A Stranger in Trenton
by FearlessFred
Summary: Visiting her Aunt in Trenton seemed like the best thing at the time for Carla, but she didn't know what an adventure it would turn out to be. There she meets Ranger and his Merry Men and more and her life changes forever. Not Babe or Cupcake
1. Chapter 1

I'm new to this so not even sure if I've uploaded it right or anything yet. Carla Macrae is my character everthing else is Janet's. I'm just playing around with Plum World for a while!!

Chapter One

So this was New Jersey. I was sitting in a taxi on my way to visit my godmother. I had left my home approximately 16 hours ago and I was absolutely shattered. There were delays at the airport in Edinburgh and again at customs at Newark where I had to answer some questions and swear on my life that I didn't have swine flu, so I suppose I shouldn't complain. I had come from the other side of the Atlantic after all!

Once my taxi driver had gotten over the fact that I was Scottish and that we could be distantly related seeing that his name was MacDonald and his Great Grandfather had comes over last century we were driving in relative silence. This surprised me as my one and only visit to the states previouly had resulted in a sore throat and constant headache after each taxi ride. Maybe New Yorkers had more to say for themselves. I was also surprised at his claim to be related as he looked more a Senor that a Scotsman.

My name is Carla Macrae and I'm 28 years old. I had a piece of paper with my godmothers address on and that's where we were heading now. Although she is my godmother for years I have been calling her Auntie so thought of her more as family now. This was my first visit to see her in New Jersey.

It was 2am so I couldn't really make out much of my surroundings but it wasn't looking too promising. We were riding through a pretty rough part of town by the looks of it. I suppose I should have been nervous but I was just too tired. We passed a street sign which told me I was on Sloan Street. My driver's mobile phone went and he started shouting loudly in Spanish to the caller. He hung up then slowed the taxi to a halt. He turned to me and smiled. Now I was nervous.

"Sorry baby but I just need to pop to a store then drop something at home, it wont take 10 mins then we'll have you back on the road" he said with toothless grin. "I'll turn the meter off from now to make up for it". With that he jumped out the cab and heading across the steet into an all night store.

I slid down as far as I could in my seat to be as invisible as possible. I had assumed he had locked the door but even if I could have got out I wasn't sure if I would be any safer on the street. There was no one around but it looked rough out there. It suddenly hit me what I was doing. I had come all the way over to the States and not told a soul. Not even the person I had come here to see. Now if anything happened to me no one would know. You hear stories all the time about females disappearing but usually because someone was expecting them to be somewhere or because they hadn't heard from them. No one would be missing me in Edinburgh, and no one would be expecting me in Trenton.

Suddenly the driver was back. In his hand he carried a tin of baby formula. "Sorry about this baby but my wife is desperate. Our son is only 3 days old and already through one tin. Who'd have thought something so small could need so much. Just another few minutes we'll be on our way"

I gave him a smile and settled back up in my seat. That's what I get for thinking the worst all the time. We drove another 2 minutes in silence while I contemplated the size of his newborn baby then stopped outside an apartment building. The driver jumped out then headed in the through door of the building. Just then a commotion broke out across the street outside another apartment building. Two women were trying to keep hold of a skinny old man who kept escaping their clutches. All of a sudden the man went still and fell to the ground. One of the women, a short but ample black woman with red hair and too tight clothes, picked him up off the ground and took him over to a big blue American looking car. The other female open the back door and the man was thrown in. The other woman picked something out of her curly brown hair and from over here in the dark I could have sworn it was spaghetti. She was white, slim and looked perfectly normal for someone to be dragging old men into cars in the middle of the night. The two woman stood arguing for another couple of minutes then got in the car and drove off.

Just then my driver came back. "Did you just see what happened to that old man across the street" I shouted at him. "Oh don't worry" he replied "that's pretty normal around these parts, he'll be getting his ass taken back to jail no doubts".

"You mean those were police officers arresting that man?" I asked.

"Oh they aint no police officers" he said with a laugh "that was Stephanie Plum and her sidekick Lula. Did any of them look like they had rolled through garbage?".

"Well one of them did have something in her hair that looked like food stuff" I replied.

"That would be Stephanie then, the bounty hunter from hell. You've been lucky some folks around here would pay to see those gals in action. You've only been here 5 mins" he said with a snigger. "Now lets get you home".

Chapter 2

Ten minutes later I was standing outside a dark building with no number on the front. The taxi driver had insisted this was the address on the piece of paper he had given me and had sped off. He had received another phone call this time for caffeine for his tired wife I guessed. It was close to 3am and I was standing with my suitcase and holdall and didn't have a clue what to do now. Although I had an address for my aunt I didn't have a telephone number. I hadn't seen her for nearly a year and not spoken to her for over three months. I really hadn't thought this through at all. There were large gates leading into an underground car park but I couldn't see any intercom system anywhere. A 3ft high wall ran along the side of the driveway into the garage so I sat down to think of my next move.

The only problem I was so tired I couldn't think what move to make. I couldn't see a door to go knock on and the gates appeared to be locked. It was then I noticed the intercom but there was only one button on it and what looked like an infrared sensor. I found it hard to believe she owned the whole building so didn't want to press the button in case someone else answered. I looked up at the windows. There was about seven floors in all but there was only lights on on the fourth floor and one more on the top floor. It just didn't look like anywhere my aunt had lived before. Her last place had been a really nice little house with gardens and a little summer house out the back where I used to play when I was little. This looked more like a government building.

Suddenly the gates to the building opened with a screech. I jumped down behind the wall so that whoever was coming out wouldn't see me. If it was my aunt I didn't want to scare her and if it wasn't her I didn't want whoever it was to scare me. As it turned out the man who came out looked pretty damn scary!

He went over to the intercom and pressed a key fob to the sensor and the gates shut. He stood and looked at the gates then fobbed the gate open again. Then he took out a small bottle and walked back over to the the gates. He went over and fobbed them shut again this time without the screech. "Gotcha" the large black man said.

I sniggered at this and the man turned to look in my direction. I ducked back down and wondered what the hell I had found funny about the big scary man oiling gates in the middle of the night. Just then I heard an engine approaching and a car turned into the driveway. The door opened and someone stepped out.

"What the fuck you doin out here Tank? Something up?" a deep male voice said.

"No my friend just fixing those damn squeaky gates" the deeper male voice replied. It was more of a growl actually.

That made me snigger again. Damn my bloody sense of humour. I lay there hoping that they hadn't heard. Nobody said a word but it didn't sound like anyone was moving either. I was holding my breath so hard I could hear the blood pounding in my ears. These could be two perfectly nice neighbours of my aunts, or this could be the wrong address completely and I had just stumbled across a couple of serial killers doing some home maintenance. There was certainly a lot of action for 3am!

I was crouched down low contemplating my situation when suddenly the biggest hands I've ever seen appeared over the top of the wall and grabbed my jacket. The hands lifted me off my feet and pulled me over the wall to land on the other side. I looked at the two huge men standing in front of me and nearly wet my pants.

"Well what do we have here?" the slightly smaller big scary man said to the other. I suddenly felt like I was in a very bad movie. I just hoped it wasn't going to be a slasher one.

I looked at them both and tried my sweetest smile on them. But I was so scared it felt more like a grimace. "Hi" I whispered. Now my voice was failing me too.

"You got any reason to be out here in the middle of the night hiding behind that wall there?" the larger man I presumed to be Tank asked. If that was his name it fitted him perfectly. He was huge. The biggest person I had ever seen who wasn't actually fat. It looked all muscle to me. He was a big black man dressed in black from head to foot and with his bald shaved head looked formidable. But then he smiled and showed two rows of gleaming white teeth. The smile lit up his whole face and suddenly he didn't look quite so scary. I pulled myself together and pulled myself up to my full 5'9 height and smiled back at him. "I'm looking for my aunt, I was told she lived at this address".

"Ain't no aunties at this address" the smaller man said. When I say smaller though he was about 6 feet 2 or more and pure muscle too. He was also head to toe in black and if I wasn't scared shitless I would have thought wow! He was slightly Hispanic looking with short black hair and hard looking brown eyes. Eyes that I would prefer be smiling at me rather than the hard glare they were giving me now.

I started to feel panic set in and also the threat of tears. I really didn't want to cry in front of these men and decided to try play tough cookie instead.

"Well if you could just let me in I'll check out the apartments and if she's not here I'll be on my way" I said to them in my toughest scariest voice.

The man with the hard eyes burst out laughing and his eyes softened and didn't glare at me so much. "Your're a long way from home are you not" he asked with a friendlier smile.

"Yes I am" I replied and damn if I could feel a tear trying to escape. "I've been up since 7 am yesterday morning how ever many fucking hours ago that was with this fucking time difference, I've sat in a plane for god knows how many hours next to some arsehole of a man who thought it would be great to touch my leg or chest whenever the opportunity arose which was every fucking five minutes, and now I have to deal with two big fucking Men in Black when all I want is a piece of my Aunt Ella's coffee cake and a shower then a big fucking bed to pass out in" I finished what I had to say, sat back down on the wall and put my head in my hands. I finally gave up trying to keep the tears back and let them all out. And there was a lot of them.

The man who wasn't Tank sat down on the wall beside me. "I didn't know Ella had a niece" he directed his question to Tank who moved to take a seat on the other side of me.

"News to me" he said. "You sure you got the right Ella honey? Whats your name?" he asked.

"Carla Macrae" I answered. I sniffed and looked up at the building hoping that Ella would miraculously appear. "Ella Guzman and her husband Louis are supposed to live here. Do you know an Ella Guzman?" If only I hadn't hid behind the wall and asked him in the first place I wouldn't be hear sniffling and looking like such a girl.

"Ella Guzman doesn't have any brothers or sisters to have a niece" Tank said looking down at the top of my head. "So you must have the wrong Ella"

"She's not really my Aunt, she's my godmother but I've always called her Auntie. She doesn't know I'm coming to see her so won't be expecting me, especially not in the middle of the night looking like this" my voice started to rise and the anger started to break through the tears. I hated being pissed off.

The two men looked at each other then Tank got up and opened the gate and disappeared inside. The other man got up and turned to me. "I need to get this car in the garage, put your bags in the car and I'll take you in"

"No way" I got up and moved away from him "I don't know if i've got the right address yet no way am I going in there with Batman and Tankman! I'll just wait right here thanks all the same" I stood and crossed my arms and glared at him.

"Sorry to disappoint but Batman is upstairs sleeping, so you'll just have to make do with Robin". He picked up my luggage and threw them in the back of the car. He stepped towards me and I instinctively put my hands up to his chest to keep him back.

"Don't worry pretty lady was just going to introduce myself." He stuck out his hand and grabbed mine and started pumping my arm up and down. My hand was tiny in his grasp.

"The names Lester Santos, but you can call me Les".

Chapter 3

A few minutes later I was sitting in the Porsche in the dark car park in silence. Lester wasn't saying anything and I didn't feel the need to speak either. I was too busy worrying about what was going to happen next. What if Ella didn't live here? I was now locked in a garage with some pretty scary looking people. There was an lift (or elevator, had to get into the American way of life) with about 6 cameras spread out around the space. There was 3 large black cars, a black Mercedes and another black Porsche. Black was obviously order of the day in this building. I wondered where Ella's little yellow run around was. Mind you it was on its last legs the last time I saw her.

She was living in New York then. Her and her husband moved around a lot but the last time I spoke she said they were pretty much settled in Trenton. Looking around I couldn't work out why anyone would be feel settled in this building. This just wasn't Ella's world. Ella was a lovely woman who loved to cook and would mother anyone who needed it. That was why I was here. A year ago after my mother's funeral Ella had taken my hand and told me if any time I needed a mum she would be there. I was now in need of some serious mothering.

"It will be ok you know" I jumped at Lester's voice taking me out of my thoughts. He was looking at me funny and I realised I was crying again. Thinking of my mother did that to me. I looked at him and he suddenly didn't look scary at all. He just looked tired.

"I'm sorry you must be wanting to get home" I said to him.

"S'ok I live here. Tank's just going to check your story then we'll be going on up".

"Does Tank live here too" I asked.

"Yup. Welcome to Rangeman" He replied "You'll find out more when we know you are who you say you are" he winked at me and I couldn't help but smile. I then spoiled it with a huge yawn. Suddenly I could hardly keep my eyes open.

Just then the elevator door opened and Tank came back with a file in his hand. He gestured for Lester and myself to get out the car. We then followed him back into the elevator and he hit the button for the 4th floor. We rode up in silence and I started feeling nervous again. Where the hell was I heading?

The elevator stopped and we stepped out into a huge office. There was banks of monitors along one wall and about 8 cubicles spread out along the rest of the room. At one of the monitors sat another huge man in black. He turned to look at me and I took a step back to hide behind Tank.

"Don't worry about Hal he's harmless" laughed Lester.

Hal growled something and turned back to his screen. I would reserve judgement on the harmless until I see otherwise. Harmless was not a word I would use to describe the beast of a man in front of me.

Tank gently took my arm and led me over to the first cubicle to a chair. I sat down and he handed me an ID card that was clipped to the file he was holding. "Is this your Ella?" he asked.

I looked at the little plastic card and almost cried with relief. God I was an emotional wreck tonight. It was Ella. It didn't really look like the Ella I remembered as she wasn't smiling but it was definetly her. "Yes that's her" I smiled up at them. "That's my Auntie Ella".

Tank sat down in the chair next to mine and laid the file on the desk. "I've read through her background and there is no mention of you or any family in Scotland. There is mention of a good friend though. Ella spent a few years in Scotland before she met Louis and worked for a large hotel in Edinburgh"

"Yes that's right" I told them. "She worked in the Balmoral Hotel with my mother Jean when they were at college. My mum left when she got pregnant with me but they kept in touch. They were doing catering at college but Ella had to come back to the States when she graduated. We saw her a lot though. My mum asked her to be godmother as she knew Ella would always be there for me. She knew I could turn to her if anything ever happened to her" My voice started to crack then so I shut up. I didn't want to cry in front of them yet again.

"And you need to turn to her now?" Lester asked gently

"Oh yes" I replied weakly. More than I could ever tell them.

"Well its late so we really don't want to disturb the Guzman's tonight" Tank stood up and gathered the file back together. "We'll put you in one of our guest suites tonight and reunite you in the morning. You've had a hell of a long day and you look like you need your beauty sleep".

"Thanks, I look that good do I?" I looked at him with what I hoped was an evil stare.

"You look like hell" Tank laughed. "But that's a good look around here. We'll get your stuff sent up to you". He handed Lester another key fob. "Les can you take the lady up to Suite 3".

I pushed myself out the chair and followed Lester back into the elevator. He pressed the button for level 5 and we stepped out into a dimly lit hallway. There was 4 doors down each side of the hallway each with a number and a small light on the outside of the door. He led me down to No 3 and opened the door with the fob. We entered a small apartment with a kitchen and dining area, a small lounge area which led to a bedroom with ensuite bathroom. I could see the large bed all made up and couldn't wait to get under those sheets. I was dead on my feet.

He handed me the fob "This will open the door and will also open the garage door if you feel the need to run away" he smiled his tired smile and I realised how much bother I had caused them tonight.

"Thanks for all this, bet you could have done without all this tonight?"

"Don't worry it brightened up an otherwise dull nightshift for us all"

"What exactly is it you do here anyway?" I asked curiously

"You'll find out all about that tomorrow sweetness. In the meantime you need anything, I'll be right next door. I'm in No 2" with that he winked, ruffled my hair and was gone.

Phew I felt all hot and bothered. I smoothed my hair back down where he had just touched me. My hair felt on fire.

I had a quick look in the kitchen to see if there was anything to eat. I was suddenly famished. There was a bowl of fruit in the fridge and some bottled water but nothing else. I grabbed an apple and a bottle of water and sat down on the very comfortable looking sofa to eat. There was a stylish coffee table in front and a massive modern looking entertainment system on the opposite wall. I wandered through to the bedroom and looked at the comfy king size bed longingly. But what I needed was a shower to wash the greasy feeling of travel away then I could let myself sleep.

Twenty minutes later I stepped out of the shower into a huge soft bath towel. I wrapped it round myself and stepped out into the bedroom. My luggage was laid out on the floor beside the door. Okay so that was taking liberties. I might not have heard them knock but they could have left it in the living area. I quickly checked to make sure I was alone again and then shut the bedroom door. I dried myself off and grabbed the first pair of pyjamas I could find. I jumped into the ..... oh the most glorious bed ever and lay down to consider my day. I fell asleep instantly.


	2. Chapter 2

This is Janets Plumworld I'm just visiting! This is my first go at writing anything never mind fan fic. Just trying to get to grips with the uploading story bit just now. This is just a wee short chapter for now for a bit of fun!

Chapter 4

I awoke to the sound of car doors slamming and engines starting up. I forced myself to get out of bed and over to the window. Two black SUVs were leaving the driveway from the building. The day had already started at Rangeman by the looks of it. I raked about for my watch and found it on my wrist. Okay so I had been tired last night. It was 8am. So I had around 4 hours sleep. Usually this little amount of sleep would see me jumping under the covers again and back to the land of nod. But I knew Ella would have been told of my arrival and could be at my door at any minute.

I took myself through to the bathroom for a shower to wake myself up. Ten minutes later I was dried and dressed in jeans, t shirt and boots. I went to the mirror to make myself look respectable. I stood for a few seconds looking at my reflection. It was April and I am Scottish so I am pale at this time of year anyway but this morning I was looking paler than usual and my eyes looked drawn. I would put this down to the flight but had to face that I hadn't been looking my best of late. I raked out my make up bag and slapped on some foundation and new mascara that promised extreme length lashes. I had big blue eyes and had always been told my eyes were my best feature so for years I had been trying all the new mascaras to make the best them. So far I hadn't found one that lived up to its promise, but it was a definate improvement. Some clear lip gloss finished the look.

Next I got to work on my hair, but that didn't really take up much time. Recently I had decided to have my long straight hair cropped short and I was loving that fact that all I had to do in the morning was work a bit of styling product through my head and go! This morning was no different. I had auburn hair which had a lot of natural red in it. I wasn't a red head but this morning it was looking particularly redder than usual. It could be the fact the sun was streaming through the window and reflecting the colour. Back home I had left the country in the third day of a downpour which was causing widespread flooding so my hair or anywhere else hadn't seen much sun of late. It felt positively balmy this morning in Trenton compared to April in Edinburgh.

Deciding that I now looked ready to face the world I wandered through to the kitchen to await Ella's arrival. There was a complicated coffee machine which I decided I needed to master as I really needed a caffeine hit. I had just worked out how to get the bloody thing on and located the coffee when I remembered there hadn't been any milk in the fridge last night. So I grabbed a bottle of water and a banana and sat at the small dining table. Another ten minutes passed and still no Ella.

I knew for a fact that Ella was an early riser and was sure that she must have been told I was here by now. I thought she would have rushed to see me as she would have assumed there was something wrong as I was actually here on her doorstep. We kept in touch by email with the occassional phone call so she surely must have wondered why I had suddenly jumped on a plane to see her.

I sat for a few minutes more then wandered over to the door. I was a bit nervous about going out there as I knew I would most likely bump into another huge man in black and although the ones I had met last night were friendly enough once they knew who I was, I couldn't be sure that anyone else I met would be quite so accommodating. And I was sure there was probably quite a few more big scary men lurking in this building somewhere!

I slowly cracked the door open and looked up and down the hall. No one was around and the place was in silence. I then remember that Lester Santos had said he was next door. I had no idea where Tank would be but out of the two men Lester had seemed the less daunting. I slowly tiptoed along to his door and stood outside wondering whether I had the guts to knock on his door. Before I could think about it a hand popped out of nowhere and hammered on the door. Okay so my brain was obviously thinking for itself this morning.

I stood back and waited with my breath held. I couldn't hear anything so I decided he must have left for work already so I turned to run back to my apartment where I would get my heart rate back to normal and think of what to do next.

I was just about to turn when I heard the lock tumble in the door and it was pulled open with some force.

"What the fuck time you call this" Lester shouted at me. I took a step back and was going to run but I couldn't take my eyes off the sight in front of me. Lester was standing there in a pair of orange boxer shorts and not much else. In fact nothing else but the angry look of a man who had just been woken up! He was all toned coffee coloured flesh and muscle and I was having a hard time dragging my eyes away from his six pack. So shoot me I'm a perv for a bit of muscle.

"I er, em I'm sorry I" look at his face Carla get your eyes of the body "I em, was wondering if, oh shit you were on a nightshift last night" I finally blurted out once I got my mouth to sync with my brain. "I'm so sorry I didn't mean to wake you" I was sure I wasn't looking so pale now as I felt myself blush from head to foot.

Lester looked at me for a second then a big smile spread across his face. "Well this sure beats being woken up by Tank. What can I do for you?" he asked.

"Well I was wondering if, if you" my voice trailed away as my defiant eyes were back on the six pack and were threatening to wander south to his shorts. So they didn't dress completely in black then. "Do you want to throw some clothes on I can wait" I asked while taking my eyes down to the floor for their disobediance.

"I can handle it if you can" Lester replied. I looked up and saw a hint of playfulness on his tired eyes.

Okay you can do this just focus on the face.

"I was looking for Ella, but I don't know where to start. I thought she would have come and found me by now" I blurted out trying not to blink and give my eyes another chance to wander.

"Why don't you come in I'll make a quick call" Lester answered.

"Ehm, I'll just wait back in my apartment if thats ok, I think I need a coffee or something" like a cold shower and a strong drink.

"No problem I'll be through in a few. I'll maybe throw a few clothes on so you can look me in the eye" he winked.

"Thanks" I ran back to my apartment to the sound of Lester chuckling and dived into the kitchen to stand before the open fridge to cool down.


	3. Chapter 3

All Janet's characters and but my Carla

Chapter 5

I was still standing in front of the fridge when my door opened.

"Don't you knock over here? I asked Lester.

"Sorry old habits die hard" he answered. "You feeling the heat?"

I was practically sitting on the bottom shelf of the fridge. "I was looking for some milk" I lied "I can't take my coffee without milk"

"Well it's a good job I got some, I didn't think there would be any through here" he smirked and made himself at home in the kitchen popping a carton of milk out from behind his back.

"I can do that thanks" I said taking the milk from him. I was close enough to smell his shower gel and his hair and skin were still damp from the quick shower he must have taken. He was wearing black sweat pants and a grey t shirt which clung to his skin. Okay so at least he was dressed now but my eyes were still gawking.

I went over to the machine and started lifting and pressing things as if I knew what I was doing. Lester came up behind me and expertly popped the coffee in the filter and pressed all the right buttons. "Take a seat madam your coffee will be right with you". He obviously knew his way around this kitchen as he opened a cupboard and got the mugs out and opened a drawer to get some spoons. I decided I might as well just sit down and let him get on with it.

He came over with the coffees and placed a mug in front of me. We both milked up and sat back to look at each other. He let out a sigh then got back up and came back with some sugar.

"How did you know i needed sugar?" I asked.

"You had a hungry look it your eyes, I figured you were either thinking of me with my clothes off or you needed a sugar hit" he replied

I smiled in spite of my embarrassment and added 2 sugars. I had to stop this man getting me all in a fluster. I took a sip of sweet caffeine and instantly felt better.

"So did you speak to Ella? I asked quickly.

"Yip she will be up shortly" he answered after a long swig of coffee. "She has a few things she needs to do every morning but she wanted to get them out the way so she could spend the rest of the morning with you. She's very concerned about you" he added gently.

"Oh I'm fine just fancied a wee break away from the rain" I replied with an attempt at a cheery smile. "Thought I would surprise her" I added.

"Well I know she can't wait to see you" Lester said as he drained the last of his coffee. "I'm going to head back to bed for a couple of hours, got another late one tonight".

"What exactly do you do here?" I asked but knew he probably wouldn't answer.

"You'll find out when you meet the boss later" Lester replied.

"I'm going to meet the boss?" I asked. If these men looked like this what the hell was their boss going to be like.

"You'll have to meet the boss if you gonna stay here, Ella will introduce you later" and with that Lester gave me another one of his winks and was gone.

I was getting really curious about what goes on at Rangeman and still couldn't believe Ella was living and obviously working here too. I still couldn't envision her having anything to do with a set up like this. Louis maybe, he had once been in the army, but not Ella.

I didn't have to wait long to find out though as someone started gently knocking on my door. I jumped up to answer and Ella came running through the door. She grabbed me in a hug and I instantly burst into tears.

"Oh honey whats wrong, whats happened?" she asked gently.

"Nothing's wrong" I sniffed "I just wanted to see you". I hugged her back then held her so I could take a look at her.

Ella was in her early 50's and a good few inches shorter than me. She used to be quite stocky looking but had lost weight since I last saw her. Not enough to be worried about her, in fact she was looking great. He hair was short and black but had some speckles of grey through it and she looked really happy. She had her usual red lipstick on but didn't bother with any other make up. As long as I could remember she had worn red lipstick. She was dressed in black jeans and a knitted black sweater. I was going to have to go shopping for some black clothing if I was going to stay for any length of time, and black wasn't great against my pasty white skin!

"You look awful honey" Ella commented as we moved through to the lounge area. Note to self, make more effort in front of the mirror in morning.

"You've lost so much weight and where's all your lovely hair? You haven't worn your hair short since you were about five". Ella looked so concerned I just wanted to squeeze her and not leave her again.

"Honestly I'm fine" I said. Its true I had lost nearly a stone over the last year but it wasn't as if I didn't need to. I was quite happy with my weight now. I had even discovered to my amazement that I liked to work out.

"So why are you here?" Ella asked. "I told you I would be here whenever you needed me but you are such a strong girl I didn't think that day would ever come". She got up and started tidying the small mess I had already made in my short time here. My Ella always the housekeeper.

"I guess I just needed a mum for a couple of weeks so decided to take a holiday" actually the fact I was in between jobs also added to the attraction of a break away. I worked as a personal shopper in the menswear department of a large retail chain but couldn't see eye to eye with my manager. More like I couldn't look him in the eye without wanting to throw up. So I had walked out two days ago.

"Well you can stay here as long as need to. I have spoken to Ranger my boss and as long as you stay out the way of business you can use this apartment" she sat back down and took my hand in her small chubby hand.

"What do you do here Ella? I've been dying to find out since I got here" I asked.

"I'm the housekeeper. I do all the cleaning, laundry and some cooking for Ranger. I also provide catering for the men and any meetings they have. Louis looks after everything else in the building. Sort of like a glorified handy man. He looks after all the men and makes sure they have all the equipment they need for a job. They are a lovely bunch".

Lovely was not a word I would use to describe them. Monstrous maybe. "What kind of jobs do they do?" I asked almost dreading the answer. I was thinking some kind of criminal activity.

"Security mostly with the odd surveillance assignment. They also do some work for a bond agent downtown apprehending criminals who miss their court dates. But they only do the really nasty ones these days". Ella said this as if it was completely normal for her to working with such people.

I thought back to last night to the two women to were apparently apprehending the old man outside his apartment block on Sloan Street. "So Rangeman are bounty hunters? I asked.

"Only every other day really. Mostly its just security" she got up again and pulled me up with her. "Now lets stop talking shop and I'll show you around, well I'll show you the parts you're allowed to see". That sounded ominous. "Louis is looking forward to seeing you but he has a few things to do today. You can join us for dinner later". She ushered me out the door and along to the elevator.

Ella spent the next hour showing me as much as she could, which wasn't really very much. She took me back to the control room where I had briefly been the night before. She introducted me to two more big men in black, who looked like they wouldn't look out of place in a wrestling ring. Their names took me slightly aback though. I had just shook hands with Brett and Binkie. Hardly the big hard man names I expected. There was no sign of Tank or Lester so I assumed they were still tucked up in bed.

"Does everyone who work here live here too" I asked Ella as we stepped back into the elevator. Ella was going to show me the gym next.

"Only Louis and myself, everyone else has an apartment here they can use but they all have their own homes somewhere. But some of them spend much more time here, especially the single ones, Tank, Lester and Bobby practically live here all the time". I wondered how scary Bobby was I hadn't met him yet.

"So how is that boyfriend of yours? Is he still your manager or have you taken over his job yet?"

I had been dreading this question but had been prepared. "We broke up a while ago" I answered.

"Oh thats a shame you looked good together" we stepped out the elevator and she took me along a corridor to the gym. "He seemed like such a nice man".

I had thought that too but had found out otherwise. "It just didn't work out" I said.

She took me through a door and into a very high tech gym. "There is a locker room through there but just for the boys so you will probably be better getting changed and showered in your apartment" she pointed to another door "There is a pool through there and a steam room. Ranger says you are welcome to use the facilities as long as you don't put his men off" she looked a bit flustered as she said this. "They don't get a lot of women staying here" she added as an explanation. I couldn't imagine why not!

"Thats about all I can show you really" she turned me back to the elevator again. "There is a gun range but you wouldn't want to see that, and some more offices and equipment storage rooms. Ranger has an apartment on the top floor and we stay on the floor above you. Now I'll take you to see Ranger". She hit the button for the fourth floor.

I wasn't really looking forward to this. We got out the elevator and bumped into Tank.

"Hey there Carla" Tank growled at me with a smile. "Hey Mrs Guzman". I laughed to myself at that. Big strong man with respect for his elders. "Ranger is ready to see you now". He led us along the bank of cubicles to an office I hadn't noticed before. He knocked and a voice shouted enter from behind the door. Tank showed us in and left.

There were two seats in front of the big desk. Ella took one and I took the other. "Carla Macrae please meet Ricardo Carlos Manoso, better known as Ranger".

Ranger stood and held his hand out to me over the desk and I took it. His handshake was firm and he gave me a small smile. Again he was a big man in black but not quite as muscled as some of the others. He was similar in build to Lester but a bit shorter. He was a couple of inches taller than me. Ella had already told me about his Cuban heritage and it showed mostly in his eyes. He had dark brown hair tied back in a pony tail and dark brown eyes. He was also very hot! I could get used to some of the MIBs round here.

"Nice to meet you Carla, Ella tells me you need a place to stay for a couple of weeks". He sat back down and lounged back in his seat.

"Only if you don't mind, I'll keep out of everyone's way" I replied "Just let me know if I've outstayed my welcome".

"Any friend of Ella's is a friend of Rangeman, you're welcome to use the apartment as long as you like, just let one of my men or Ella know if you need anything". With that he stood and moved to the door. "Ella I'll be out all evening so don't worry about dinner tonight". He nodded to us both then he was gone with Tank following behind. So I'd now met the boss. He wasn't really so scary!

Ella took me back over the elevator and pressed the button for the fifth floor "I need to get started on lunch for the boys but I'll come back down for you at seven then take you up to my apartment, Louis will be back by then". The doors opened and I stepped out onto my floor. "You go take a nap you look like you still need to catch up on some sleep" she hit the button for the 6th floor and I was left alone again in the hall.

I headed along to my door and then it hit me that I hadn't picked up my fob when we left this morning. I couldn't get back into my apartment. Shit I didn't want to go back down to the fourth floor on my own and wasn't sure where Ella had gone. I also really needed to pee!

I looked back down the hall to Lester's door. I chewed on my lip and wondered if I had the nerve to knock on his door again. He had managed to get into my apartment no bother earlier. But I really didn't want to wake him up again. Although that had been a few hours again now and he did say he was just going back for a couple hours sleep. I looked at my watch and saw that it had just gone one. Surely he would be up by now.

I walked back down to his door and stood debating whether to knock or not. I'm almost sure he wouldn't want me bothering him again, and I'm not sure I could handle seeing any more nakedness from him today.

I had just decided I would head up to the 6th floor to look for Ella when the elevator doors opened and Lester himself walked out carrying a McDonald's bag. That reminded me I was starving and I almost couldn't speak for worrying I would drool at the smell. He was dressed in what must be the uniform of black cargoes, tight fitting black t shirt, black boots and black cap.

"Hey sweetness you looking for me?" He asked wandering over to where I was standing outside his apartment door.

"Yeah sorry I've left my fob inside my apartment so I'm locked out" I smiled my stupid female can you help me out smile.

"Two tics" he said and disappeared in to his own apartment. He came right back out and handed me a burger and some fries and walked along to my door.

"Oh thanks" I said taking the food from him.

"You've still got that hungry look from this morning about you" he laughed. He then fobbed the door open for me. I must have been looking at him funny cos he gave me a quizzical look.

"How did you think I got in, picked the lock or something" he asked.

"Well yeah" I replied "You said old habits die hard and I just assumed that you . . ." oh how could I put this without offending!

"I looked like I know a thing about breaking and entering" he answered for me. "Hal used to stay in your apartment before he moved in with his girlfriend. He was always losing his fob so he gave me a spare" he laughed at my expression "What you amazed Rangeman Hal could lose his fob. We're not perfect".

"No I was more amazed at the girlfriend part" I answered. This got another laugh from Lester.

"Here you can take this" he held out the fob to me. "Might make you feel safer if you know I can't get in".

I thought about it for a second. "Nah just keep it for now, I'm not perfect either". I crossed the threshold into my apartment and turned to close the door. "Thanks for the food Lester" I said.

"No problemo sweetness, and I told you, you can call me Les" he gave me one of his trademark winks and was gone.

I shut the door and headed over for a session in front of the open fridge door!


	4. Chapter 4

This is all JE's Plumworld with a little bit of my Carla.

Chapter 6

I woke up the next morning feeling more refreshed than I had in a very long time. I had spent the previous afternoon unpacking and as promised Ella had come for me at 7pm and took me up to her apartment to share dinner with herself and Louis. It was great to see him again and we spend a good few hours reminiscing about my mother and Louis told his usual war stories. We didn't talk about Rangeman at all. They didn't bring up the subject so I didn't push. I figured after working all day they might not feel the need to go over the days business. Not that I was exactly sure what business that was yet.

I remembered the leftover coffee cake Ella had given me last night and decided that would be as good a breakfast as any. I forced myself out of bed and through to the kitchen. I popped on some coffee and cut a slice of cake. I took my breakfast through to the livingroom area and sat down to eat. I looked around the room and wondered on my plans for the day. I didn't have any. I looked at the entertainment system and decided it was too complicated to even try to switch on. I grabbed my bad and dug out my mobile phone. I hadn't switched it on since boarding the plane in Edinburgh. It came alive with a happy little jingle and I cringed at what I saw. Twenty nine missed calls and 42 text messages. I switched the phone off again and popped it back in my bag.

Ella had said last night she would be busy most of the day but would catch up with me in the afternoon. So I had a good few hours to fill before then. It was only 10am and I was dying of boredom. I needed to get out and about.

I showered quickly and made an effort with the hair and makeup. I was getting too many comments on how hellish I looked. I decided I had done the best I could do. I had a bit more colour in my cheeks this morning but I put that down to the couple glasses of red wine I had consumed last night. I dressed in a thigh length denim dress that I had never worn back home. I was always conscious of wearing too short or revealing clothes back home but I didn't know anyone here so felt my inner tart wanting to make an appearance.

I looked out the window to see what kind of shoe day it would be to find it was raining. Great I had brought the weather with me. I raked out my knee high, heeled boots and topped it off with a black leather jacket. There wasn't a full length mirror in the apartment but I think I looked fine. The dress wasn't too short so I didn't think I would distract any MIBs this morning. The boots brought my 5ft 9 inches height up to nearly 6ft so I felt tall enough to deal with anything this morning.

I got a flutter in my stomach thinking about the men downstairs. I could just go straight down to the parking garage and away but I needed some information first on how to get around. I would just have to get over my nervousness around them if I was going to be facing them every day. I couldn't spend all my time in this apartment.

I picked up my fob popped it in my bag and left the apartment. I went over to the elevator and waited on it coming down from the floor above. I wondered if Lester would be up yet but I didn't think that likely after yesterday. I got in and pressed the button for the fourth floor. I took a deep breath and put on my happy I'm not afraid of the big bad wolf face.

I stepped out into the control room and was suprised to see Lester sitting at the front cubicle.

"Hey Carly girl" he said looking up from his computed screen.

I stopped in my tracks. It wasn't that fact I wasn't expecting him to be sitting there, it was what he had just called me.

"Please don't ever call me that again" I said clenching my teeth and trying not to shout. I could see a shaved head pop up from the cubicle across but didn't recognise it.

"Sorry" Lester mumbled and got back to his work.

Well that was a great start to the morning. So much for making a good impression. I walked over to his desk and sat in the seat in front. "Its okay I just hate being called Carly. We all have a name we hate being called don't we?" I smiled at him as I felt bad for snapping at him.

"Sure" Lester replied not looking up from his keyboard. He was quickly hitting away at the keys and reading from a file on his desk.

A few moments passed before he raised his head to look at me. "You needing something?" he asked. Not quite so friendly now.

I needed to lighten the situation and get his cheery face back. "Didn't think you would be out of bed so early this morning" I commented.

"Job last night got cancelled so got back earlier than expected" he explained looking bored.

Okay time to get of here and leave him in peace. "I was just wanting the number for a taxi company. I need to get out for a while" I said.

Just then Ranger appeared from his office door. "Morning Carla" he said "I hear you need some transportation. I could arrange for you to borrow a car for the morning" he added some more files to the pile on Lester's desk.

"No its ok" I smiled. "I don't actually drive" I told him with a smile. Here it comes.

Lester looked up from his work. Now I had his full attention. They both looked at me as if I had just grown horns.

"What do you mean you don't drive" Lester asked incredulously.

"Edinburgh is a small enough city I can get anywhere I need to go by public transport. Parking is a nightmare where I live so I've just never seen the point in getting a car" I answered.

"Well you might not want to bother with public transport in Trenton" Ranger said with a hint of a smile on his face. "I'll get you keys to one of my Mercs".

Mmm a Merc would be nice but there was a problem. "You see when I said I don't drive what I actually meant was I can't drive" I said sheepishly.

Ranger and Lester looked at me if my horns had just sprouted wings. The room went silent as all work seemed to have ceased. You could hear a pin drop in the control room..

"You can't drive?" Lester broke the silence. His full on Lester grin was back now so at least I had resolved that situation. "How can you not drive? he asked again.

I felt slightly embarrassed now as more heads were popping up from behind cubicles. Only the one behind Lester's appeared to be MIB free. "Yeah I can't drive, it can't be that unusual can it" I stated stubbornly.

"Sweetness, Americans are born to drive" Lester stated with pride.

"Yeah well us Scots are born to roam, but we'll take whatever means of transport is available. And for me its just not the car" I said with some pride of my own.

I heard some chuckles coming from around the room. That included Ranger who had headed back to his office.

Lester was sitting back in his seat now looking me up and down as if assessing me. "Taking cabs everywhere is gonna cost you a lot. Where were you planning on going this morning?" he asked.

"It's Saturday so I thought some shopping" I replied "I need some retail therapy" I said justifying my need to spend money.

"Well what you need is a Lula then" Lester laughed.

"What the hell is a Lula" I asked

"Lula's not a what, Lula is a she. Lula is Tank's fiance" he replied.

"Tank is engaged?" I said in disbelief.

Just then I could hear some coughing sounds coming from the cubicle behind Lester's. "Hey Tank" Lester shouted. "Tell Carla the story of how you got engaged to Lula".

Suddenly Tank stood up from the cubicle looking somewhat embarrassed. "I don't wanna" he growled at Lester.

"Aw go on Tank man. If you don't I'll tell Carla here your real name" Lester was teasing now. I wondered how bad his name could be.

Tank gave Lester a death glare then turned to me "Well there was apparently this whole conversation while I was sleeping then I woke and there was this ring and Lula was so happy and then we were engaged". He said this whilst shaking his head as if he too couldn't believe what had happened to him.

"You proposed in your sleep" I laughed.

"I think I musta done, but I can't recall any of it. Damn Tequila shots" he added as a possible explanation.

"So when's the big day?" I asked.

Tank suddenly looked like he was going to keel over. If a black man could go green around the gills then Tank was doing just that. He sat back down hard and disappeared from view.

"Tank doesn't handle the marriage stuff very well" Lester explained. "Best drop the subject for now" he winked. "Hey Tank you gonna call Lula and get her to take Carla on a retail adventure".

Tank growled a reply and I heard him press the buttons of a phone. A minute later he shouted over "Lula will be here in ten minutes. She'll wait out front in her red Firebird".

I didn't know what a Firebird was but I thought it would probably be easy enough to spot. I thanked Tank then got up and headed for the elevator.

"Hey Carla" Lester shouted at me. "I'll give you my cell phone number in case you need us to come bail you out if Lula gets your in trouble".

"Am I likely to get in trouble?" I asked eyebrows raised. Who the hell was this Lula? "Any way I don't have a mobile, I mean a cell phone" I lied. I didn't want to have to switch that thing on.

Lester looked at me in amazement. "You can't drive, you don't have a cell phone. Next you gonna tell me you can't shoot a gun!"

"Of course I can't shoot a gun, what kind of girl do you think I am?" Why would I need to be able to shoot a gun. I just wanted to buy some shoes. "I do have a cell phone but it doesn't seem to work over here" I lied again. "I'll get by without one" I smiled sweetly at Lester and stepped in to the elevator. Lester was shaking his head as the doors closed.

Jeez they probably thought I was a complete simpleton now. Did they really expect me to be carrying a gun out here? I was going to ask this Lula if she had a gun.

Ten minutes later a big red car pulled up and a short but rather large black woman got out. She had blond hair and was wearing green spandex. She looked like she was going to burst the seams of her top if she stretched too far. She looked vaguely familiar. Then I remembered. The taxi driver the other night had called one of the bounty hunter women Lula. Could this be the same Lula?

"Hey you Carla? she shouted.

"Thats me" I answered jogging over to the driver side.

"God your white" she stated. "Another skinny white girl needing the shopping expertise of Lula. Lets get this show on the road" She jumped back into the car and pumped up the stereo system.

"They got a shoe sale on a Macy's so that's as good a place as any to start. Any place else you had in mind?". She asked.

I had always wanted to go to Macy's. A shoe sale sounded an excellent idea. "Sounds good to me" I said. I liked Lula already.

"I have a friend who is also in need for some Lula retail therapy. We'll pick her up on the way. You'll like Stephanie, she's a skinny ass white gal like yourself. This is gonna be fun" she shouted over the beat as we sped off.

Oh my god I said to myself. I'm think I'm going shopping with the bounty hunter from hell and her sidekick Lula!


	5. Chapter 5

All Janets except Carla.

Thanks for your comments so far. Its really encouraging to know someone is enjoying it.

Chapter 7

We were sitting in a car park behind Stephanie Plum's apartment building. Stephanie apparently was having a hair crisis but would be down shortly. I was just finishing telling Lula that I had seen them in action two nights ago.

"That was dumb ass Tommy Riley" she explained examining her manicure. "Do you think this gold colour goes with this outfit? she asked. Obviously Tommy Riley wasn't exciting enough to merit more conversation.

"Sure it goes" I said. "It sets off your hair colour". Her hair looked gold too. I hadn't seen many blond black women but she actually carried it off well.

Lula look up at me and narrowed her heavily made up eyes at me "Are you fucking with me?" she asked.

"No I think you look fantastic" and I really did. I thought Lula was amazing and had taken to her right away. She just didn't give a shit about anything.

She pumped up her gangsta rap and bounced about some to the music. Five minutes later the door behind me opened and Stephanie got in. I turned round to introduce myself and get a look at the infamous bounty hunter. She was slim but had a slight roundness to her face, but it suited her. She was very pretty and had brown curly hair which at this moment was trying to burst out of her baseball cap. She was dressed in jeans and a sweatshirt and cool Doc Marten boots. Maybe they were for the ass kicking bounty hunter part. She carried a big black bag which looked rather heavy. She looked a couple of years older than me so I placed her in early 30s.

"Hi I'm Carla" I said holding out my hand.

"Hey, I'm Steph" she said taking my hand. "I hear you are living at Rangeman. How's that working out?" she asked.

"Its different" I admitted. "It feels a bit intense most of the time, but at least I can see my Aunt".

"Ella is such a sweetie" laughed Steph. "I don't know how she manages it, it can't be very rewarding working for Ranger like she does".

"She seems to love it, she's quite good at mothering. I think she thinks Ranger is in need of some mothering" I laughed.

"There is a lot of things that man needs, and mothering is not the first thing that springs to my mind" Lula said. "You would need to be a whole lotta woman to ever live in the Batcave with Batman". Ain't that right Steph?"

I looked at Steph waiting for an explanation. She wasn't giving one.

"So lets get this party started" Lula announced and she fired up the engine and sped out the car park. "We heading for the shoe sale at Macy's" she shouted over the music to Steph in the back. "You okay with that?"

"That's perfect, I need a new pair of FMP's for a job I'm doing for Ranger tonight". Steph shouted back.

"Is that another one of them distraction jobs you doing then?" shouted Lula looking at Steph in the rear view mirror.

"Yip, some low life at that Ice Blue club needs eradicating. I haven't had all the details yet but thats not unusual. Half the time I don't know what I'm supposed to be doing on these jobs for Rangeman! Lula can you turn that music down I'm going hoarse shouting back here".

Lula turned down the music and my ears popped. That was better. This conversation was getting interesting. It sounded like I could get more of an insight into Rangeman from these girls.

"Do you work for Rangeman a lot then?" I asked. " I'm still not sure what they do there".

"Honey, we don't know what they get up to there, and thats our men that work there, so that say's a lot". Lula said

I knew Lula was engaged to Tank so who was Steph with. I turned to her for an explantion but again she was quite.

"Steph has this thing with Ranger" Lula explained sensing my curiosity.

"I do not have a thing with Ranger" Steph exclaimed from the back. "Its just a working relationship. He's kind of like my mentor" she said looking at me.

"The kind of working relationship that requires lots of kissing, meaningful looks and the occassional boink" smiled Lula as she pulled into the car park of a shopping mall and started looking for a space.

Steph stuck out her tongue to Lula's back and sat back in her seat. This trip was going to be fun.

_________________________________________________________________________

Ten minutes later we were seated at a table having cake and coffees. This apparently, was the normal way to start a shopping trip.

"Right girls, bag check" Lula announced as she and Steph dumped their bags on the table. "You too Carla" Lula insisted. "Did anyone hand your anything before you left?"

I shook my head "What we checking for?" I asked.

"GPS or bugging devices" Steph said.

"Excuse me?" I exclaimed.

"Our menfolk have got this nasty little habit of having to know our every move" Lula explained. "They will be even more intrigued today as we have fresh blood with us. There is a chance that they will want to know what we telling you" she said rummaging about her bag.

"What could you be telling me that they would find so interesting? Talk about an invasion of privacy" I stated indignantly.

"Most of the time it's not a problem, especially the GPS part" Steph said with a mouth full of doughnut. "There's been a good few times when I've got myself into a situation where I needed to be rescued and they've known where to find me. But the bugging part is new".

"When did that start?" I asked.

"Around the time Lula got engaged to Tank" Steph smiled. "I think our Tank is a bit nervous that he will suddenly be expected to get married. I think as soon as Lula suggests a date there will suddenly be a coup in some third world country that will need his attention".

"Yeah I did get that he was a bit jittery about wedding bells" I laughed.

"My Tank will be just fine when I name that day. But he'll just have to wait until I lose a few more pounds. He won't have to wait long" Lula said whilst helping herself to her second cake. Steph and I locked eyes and grinned at each other. I think Tank would be safe for now.

"They'll be wanting to know what you think of them all too" Steph added. "I've heard that a couple of them a have soft spot for you".

"Me!" I spluttered into my coffee. "Who? I've only met a few of them".

"Les for a start" Lula said "That man thinks you are the shit".

I wasn't sure if I wanted to be "the shit". But I did feel warm and fuzzy that he might think that.

"And Bobby and Binkie have been heard to make comments on the size of them melons you got packed in there" Lula also added.

"Oh for fucks sake" I shouted. "I haven't even met anyone called Bobby. Ella's living with a bunch of perverts with all their cameras everywhere".

"Ain't that the truth" Lula said "and Bobby is fine, not as fine as my Tank, but fine all the same".

"They wouldn't have cameras in the apartment I'm staying in will they?" I asked worriedly.

"No not in your apartment" Steph said. But they have cameras everywhere apart from the inside of each apartment and the bathrooms downstairs".

"So you are saying that they could have placed a bug on me so they could hear if I was gossiping about them. That's all, not for any matter of security or anything" I exclaimed.

"Nope" Steph and Lula said in unison.

I picked up my bag and shouted into it "I think Les is so hot, I want him to fuck me senseless in the steam room".

Steph and Lula both looked at me with such shocked expressions I just had to laugh, even though I was getting a bit embarrassed by the looks I was getting from our fellow diners.

"Jesus fuck you got some balls girl" Lula laughed. "You better empty that bag and pray there ain't no bugs in there".

We got to work looking for anything unusual and I started to get worried we did actually find something. Maybe we should have had this conversation after looking for these gadgets. Two minutes later we sat looking at a pen and lipstick on the table. The pen had come out of Steph's bag and the lipstick from Lula's. I hadn't found anything in my bag.

"Both GPS devices" Steph decided after examining them. Thank fuck for that. I had a feeling Lester would probably take me for my word.

I was relieved not to have found any bugging devices but suddently had a thought.

"Would they not have have to be quite close by to hear anything if they had planted a bug" I asked.

"Oh there will a Rangeman or two somewhere in this mall" Lula said. A shopping trip with the girls would be too much for them to miss!"

__________________________________________________________________________

An hour later we were standing in the shoe department of Macy's. Steph was trying on a fantastic pair of FMPs and Lula was trying on a pair of knee high leopard print boots. I had brought quite a few items of footwear over with me in my luggage but decided I wanted a pair of Doc Martens similar to Stephs. I myself may need to kick some ass when I got back to Rangeman.

"Does Officer Hottie know you're doing this job for Ranger tonight" Lula asked Steph.

"Nope, and he doesn't need to know either, you know he would just go off on one if he did" Steph replied.

"Who's Officer Hottie?" I asked.

"Steph's on again off again boyfriend Joe" Lula answered. "He has one of the finest asses in Trenton PD" Lula added.

"Yeah well he is being one of Trenton's biggest asses too" Steph said. "He doesn't really approve of my relationship with Ranger" she said to me.

"Well you can kind of understand that if you have the kind of touchy feely boinking kind of relationship Lula says you have with Ranger" I said cautiously.

"I know but sometimes he just has to give me some space, both of them do" she said quietly more to herself than anyone else.

"Sounds like you have feelings for both men" I said gently.

She looked thoughtful for a few seconds and looked at me sadly "I do, you wait all your life for the perfect man, but what do you do when you find two?" she asked me quietly.

I couldn't really answer that one. I thought I had my one, perfect man and I couldn't have been more wrong. I looked at Steph and suddenly felt this overwhelming feeling to give her a hug. She looked so vulnerable and confused.

The moment was interrupted by Lula who had decided it was time for lunch. We paid for our shoes and headed out the store.

"Oh we have one more stop to make" Lula said "I need to get something nice for my Tankie from Victoria's Secret's" she said leading the way.

"I could do with a new bra for my dress tonight" Steph said as we struggled to keep up.

"Won't it be a bit embarrassing if any of Ranger's men see us in there?" I asked.

"Don't worry" Steph said. "We haven't managed to get any of the Merry Men to accompany us in there. The all have a deep seated fear of Victoria's Secrets" she laughed.

"Who's the Merry Men?" I asked as we walked into the lingerie store.

"Rangeman" Lula answered. "Its just our little pet name for all of Ranger's men. The name suits them well don't you think?"

I thought of all the male broodiness and skulking I had encountered so far and thought that it did indeed suit them.

"So these big scary men are all too scared of an underwear store" I laughed.

"Fuckin A" shouted Lula. "I haven't managed to get my Tankie in here, and Steph as failed with all of them so far, although I think's she's a little scared to try with Ranger. I think he might just call her bluff" She picked up a thong about three sizes to small. "Even Officer Hottie won't come in here with her" she raked for the matching bra in her size. "So if there is any Merry Men around, they will be keeping a safe distance".

We paid for our purchases and heading back out towards the exit through the make up and perfume counters. Suddenly a very tanned, very blond, huge chested girl jumped out in front of us.

"Would you like to try some of this new perfume we have on sale today" she said not waiting for an answer and spraying us all until we choked "Its infused with pheromones to drive your man wild" she giggled.

"Hell yeah we'll take four bottles of . . . .Ravishing" Lula said checking the name on the label and raking out her purse.

"Four bottles?" I asked.

"One for all of us and one for Connie back at the office" Steph explained getting her credit card out.

"She's not had a man to drive crazy for a long time" Lula said. "She could maybe put some of them pheromone things to some good use".

We finally got back to the car and put our bags in the boot of the Firebird. We got ourselves settled and headed for some place called Cluck in a Bucket for lunch.

"I've just thought of a challenge for our pale ass girl in the back" Lula said to Steph who was sitting up front beside her.

"What would that be then?" Steph asked.

"Carla here needs to get a Merry Man to go to Victoria Secret's with her, and we want evidence of the deed". Lula said looking at me in the rear view mirror with mischevious glint in her eye.

"Oh Lula that's impossible, how will she manage to do something we haven't managed, she's only been here five minutes" Steph laughed.

"What do you think Carla, you up to the challenge?" Lula shouted over her shoulder.

"Hell yeah" I shouted back "Us Scots never back down from a challenge".

"That's it then. You have until the end of next week" Lula said pumping the stereo system up.

Of fuck. How the hell was I going to get a Merry Man to go shopping with me!


	6. Chapter 6

All characters courtesy of JE, except Carly who is all mine!

Chapter 8

I got dropped off at Rangeman just before 3pm. I rushed into the building and into the elevator. I hit the button for the fifth floor and looked at the camera on the panel above the buttons. I had an uncontrollable urge to make a rude gesture at the camera but managed to contain it. How dare they spy on people! Especially people who they were supposed to care about. I was still a little nervous that they might have heard what I shouted into my bag. Although we hadn't found a bug I wasn't really sure what one looked like so I could possibly have missed it.

The elevator came to a halt at the fourth floor. Shit I was hoping I wouldn't have to be confronted with any Merry Men as I now knew them by. I was also running late for meeting Ella who was expecting me. The doors opened and Tank stood in front of me.

"Boss wants to see you" he said.

"I'm busy" I said reaching for the button panel. He wasn't my boss, he would have have to wait.

Tank put his very large foot in the elevator and held the doors open. "Ranger wants to see you now, Ella knows to expect you later". He gently took my arm and guided me into the control room. Lester was still sitting at his desk with an even bigger pile of files than he did this morning. He was looking weary but still looked up to give me a smile and the once over. He looked at the shopping bags I held in my hand.

"You going to show us your purchases then?" he asked with a glint in his eye.

"I didn't get anything too exciting" I said looking down at the bags. Fuck the Victoria's Secret bag had found its way to the front.

"Mmm" he said looking at the bag, he sighed and put his head back down to work. At least it seemed he hadn't heard anything he shouldn't have.

I marched along to Ranger's office. I intended to make this as quick as possible but I was intrigued as to why he wanted to see me. I knocked on his office door and entered.

"Carla take a seat" he said gesturing to the seat in front of his desk. He was all in Rangeman black as usual and looked as hot as he had yesterday. I could see why Steph was having problems not getting too attached to this man. He oozed sex appeal from every pore.

He waited until I was seated and I saw him quickly glance at my purchases. A small smile played on his lips but he didn't mention them. I decided just to start the conversation without the need to discuss my shopping trip.

"Tank says you wanted to see me" I said.

"Carla I was just wondering how long you were planning on staying in Trenton". Ella was unsure of when you were returning to the UK" Ranger asked. He was sitting back in his fancy chair with his fingers steepled under his chin.

"Have I out stayed my welcome already?" I asked. Fuck I hoped not!

"No but Ella gets the impression that you have some kind of problem back home, something you may be running away from" he leaned forward and placed his hands on his desk. "Now while thats none of my business I thought that possibly I could take advantage of the situation".

Now I was really intrigued. But I wasn't about to tell him my problems.

"I have some stuff going on at home but its nothing I can't handle. Its not anything I want to talk about though". I tried to put a hard face on my words to show that I was indeed handling my situation. "Why would this be to your advantage though?" I asked.

"I have a staff shortage at the moment. I've had to send a number of men to our office in Miami to sort out a few problem cases we have out there. I'm now having to ask my men here to carry out some mundane tasks when I could have them deployed in more important field jobs. I was wondering if you didn't have any plans to see the sights of Trenton, if you would consider doing a few hours work for me every day". I didn't know a Merry Man could speak for this length of time. But then Ranger wasn't a Merry Man. He was Batman!

I thought for a few seconds. "Trenton has sights?" I asked innocently.

Rangers mouth twitched again. He wasn't one for big facial expressions.

"What kind of work did you have in mind" I asked when he didn't answer my first question.

"Just some simple computer searches. Lester has been doing most of them over the last few days but he is one of my best men. I really need him out there rather than stuck at his desk. You may have noticed the files on his desk?" He asked.

I had done. And the pile was much bigger this afternoon than it had been this morning. Did I really want to be sitting working while on vacation? But then I really didn't have much else to do, and he did say it would only be for a few hours a day. There was also the fact I wasn't really on vacation either. I wasn't sure what to call this little break I was on.

"Sure I'll do it, anything to help pay my way" I said.

"I'll pay you of course" Ranger said.

"Oh you don't have to do that" I gasped. "I'm not sure I'm allowed to earn money while I'm here anyway" I added.

"We have ways of working around those rules" Ranger said with a slight smile. I didn't doubt that for a minute.

"You can start on Monday then" he said. I started to get up when he added "There's one more thing Carla".

"Yes" I said sitting back down. What else could he want?

"I have a security job going down tonight. While we are carrying this out we need someone to distract the target we are after. Stephanie has already agreed to help out as has Hal's girlfriend Tina. I was wondering if you would maybe be interested in taking part?"

"What would I have to do?" I asked. This sounded really interesting.

"Nothing much, just dress up and go clubbing. You just need to be alert and look out for the target. Once he has been suitably distracted we move in. You will be in no danger at any time" he said.

"When you say dress up . . ." I paused "do we have to dress in any particular way. Its just I have seen Steph's shoes for tonight and she says they have to go with a black slut dress she has at home".

I watched as Rangers eyed widened briefly then darkened. Obviously thinking of Steph in her slut dress. Again interesting.

"You have to dress to impress yes" he said composing himself. "Do you have anything with you or will you have to go shopping again?"

"Oh no I have a suitable slut dress with me" I said getting up "And a perfect pair of shoes to match". I headed to the door feeling this conversation was over and also to hide the blush that I could feel creeping up my face. "What time do we leave?"

"Nine sharp from the control room, no point leaving too early the club won't liven up until late" he started reading through a file on his desk so I was obviously free to go. "Steph has the file so will fill you in on the way, you can ask her any questions you may have".

I shut his office door behind me and headed for the elevator. I was actually really excited about this evening, especially the clubbing part. I loved a good club night and I'm sure I wasn't going to have to play too big a part in it all. I could maybe just kick back and relax and have a good boogie.

Lester was standing talking to Hal and Tank as I passed the control room monitors.

"I hear you're joining us tonight Carla" he said stepping out in front of me to halt my progress. "You gonna give me a dance later? he asked with a wink.

"If you play your cards right" I said and gave a wink back all of my own. There's nothing like the promise of a night out to bring out my inner minx!

_________________________________________________________________________

I went back up to my apartment and put away my purchases. I unpacked my new DMs, my new underwear which would come in really handy for tonight now that I could glam up, my Ravishing perfume and my last purchases - some clothes to work out in, and a bottle of Jack Daniels. I had decided that I was going to make full use of the gym and facilities so I had bought a couple of sports bras and some spandex shorts. Whether I actually worked up the courage to go down there was another thing. I thought I may find that courage in the bottle of Jack Daniels I had bought in a 7-11 I had Lula take me to.

I would certainly need some before tonight!

I was just about to leave to see Ella when I noticed a box on the coffee table. On closer inspection it turned out to be a new mobile phone, or cell phone as I would have to get used to calling it for a while. A small handwritten note told me it was from Lester. "For when you're feeling lonely!" he had scrawled on the paper along with a x at the end and a happy smiley face. I switched the phone on and found his number and most of Rangeman employees various numbers already programmed in. I raked through my bag and found the numbers I had been given for Steph and Lula and added them too. Then I had a flash of inspiration.

I looked for Steph's number and hit the call button.

"Hello" Steph said obviously wondering who's the number was coming up on her cell phone screen.

"Hi Steph its Carla" I said.

"Hi Carla what's up?" she asked "You needing to escape the Batcave again?" she said with a laugh.

"No I was just calling to invite you up for a drink later" I explained. "Ranger has asked me along to help tonight so I thought it would be fun to get together beforehand".

"Oh I don't know, Ranger doesn't like any of us drinking alcohol on these jobs" she said with a worried tone. "He wants us to keep a clear head".

"Come on Steph one drink won't hurt" I said. "It is my first night out in Trenton after all, even if I am working".

There was a pause on the end of the line as Steph thought over my suggestion. "Okay" she said eventually. "I'll be over around seven. Will I invite Tina too?" she asked.

"The more the merrier" I said. We said our goodbyes and I headed off to see Ella.

This was going to be fun! Sod you Mr Manoso and your no drinking rule!


	7. Chapter 7

If you know the characters they are Janet's, Carla's all mine.

Chapter 9

A few hours later I was showered, dressed and had made a small dent in the bottle of JD. I had spent a pleasant couple of hours with Ella in her apartment before she had to start on Ranger's evening meal. That man didn't know how lucky he was. She had offered to make me something but I was a bit more nervous than I would care to admit about this evenings proceedings. I had told Ella what I would be doing and she hadn't seemed too pleased. Her parting words to me had been "they better look after you or they will have me to answer to". I wondered if this would put the fear of God in any of the Merry Men but I doubted it. Stranger things had happened though.

I was now standing in front of the bathroom mirror doing my make up. I stepped back to have a look at myself. I thought I looked rather good. I was wearing a short electric blue satin dress with diamonte straps and my new Victoria's Secrets push up bra and lacy black thong. My 36D cleavage now looked even more impressive under the low neckline. I also wore a pair of shoes I had bought months ago but had never had the chance to wear. They were also electric blue with peep toes and diamonte ankle straps with 4 inch heels. I was struggling to keep my balance but for some unknown reason once under the unfluence of alcohol I could suddenly walk better in heels and could dance the night away in them. But in the soberish state I was in now I was in serious risk of breaking an ankle. Another drink was needed and soon. I had styled my hair in a choppy 'just got out of bed' look and my eyes were given the smokey treatment to bring out the blue in my eyes. I had finished off with a deep pink lip gloss and a dab of Ravishing to the pulse points. I looked like a proper slut. And I felt great!

Just after seven there was a light tap at the door. I answered it to find Steph standing there holding a large paper bag, a brown folder and a big smile on her face.

"Wow you look amazing Carla" she said as she walked in.

"Thank you dahling" I said putting on a posh voice. "You looking absolutely super yourself".

Steph looked more than super. She looked stunning. Like myself she had a sexy little dress on. It was short and sequined with a single wide strap. She had matched it with four inch shoes with sequined ankle straps. Her eyes were heavily made up but she wore a pale pink lip gloss which only emphased her big blue eyes all the more. She wore her curls piled on top of her head in a big sexy mess. Round her neck she wore a beautiful black crystal on a thick silver chain. I imagined she must have drawn quite a lot of attention once she had arrived at Rangeman and I said as much to her.

"Mmm yeah I think I did but then . . . ." she paused and had a think "it really gives my confidence a boost to see their reaction, its not that often I get to dress like a whore" she laughed.

"Has Ranger seen you?" I asked.

"Probably but not in person. He's bound to have seen me on the camera's though" she moved over to the kitchen and put the brown bag and folder on the counter top. "I've brought dinner" she said changing the subject.

The most amazing smell filled the kitchen as she opened the bag. I suddenly realised that I wasn't quite so nervous and I was starving. Probably the lack of nerves was due to the Jack Daniels.

"What have you brought?" I asked. "It smell wonderful".

"Meatball subs from Pino's" she said handing me one and producing a couple cans of Diet Coke. She stood over the sink and took a big bite of her sub.

"You want to sit at the table?" I asked.

"No here is fine" she mumbled through a mouthful of food. "Less likely to mess my dress this way" she eyed my cleavage "mind you if you lose any I'm sure we can find someone to lick it out of there" she laughed.

"Good aren't they" I said proudly looking down at myself. "Its not too much is it?" I asked suddenly worried I had overdone the slut look.

"No you look just great. Can't wait to see Les's face when he sees you" she said.

I felt myself blush at the thought of Lester seeing me in my dress. Steph laughed when she noticed my condition.

"Don't worry about Les he's a sweetie" she said. "Although don't take anything he says too seriously, he is a habitual flirter and a real ladies man. You're just a bit of entertainmant for them just now". She took a couple of glasses from a cupboard and split a can of coke between them.

"Entertainment!" I spluttered. "Oh great so I am just a bit of amusement for them all then". I took the glasses and poured a couple of shots of JD into them. Steph eyed them nervously.

"Oh don't worry I have been entertaining them all with my antics for a while now" she said. "They don't mean any harm, its just a bit of light relief away from their jobs" she looked thoughtful for a second "they have seen a lot of bad stuff over the years".

"Like what?" I asked sipping my drink.

"Now's not the time to tell you, some other time maybe" she eyed the glass in front of her "you know Ranger really isn't going to be happy if we get drunk before tonight".

"We're not going to get drunk, just a bit merry maybe" I said. "Hey where's Tina? I asked suddenly realising the absence of Hal's girlfriend.

"She's had to pull out, Hal decided he couldn't handle watching his girlfriend trying to get it on with another man" she said taking a tentative sip of her drink. "Bobby's girlfriend Sasha is stepping in but she's meeting us at the club. She's lovely you'll like her". Steph took a bigger sip of her drink and seemed to be enjoying it now.

"I take it Bobby doesn't mind his girlfriend getting it on then?" I asked. I still hadn't met the elusive Bobby.

"He's in Miami just now but gets back tomorrow morning. But Bobby's pretty laid back so probably wouldn't have a problem with it". Steph drained the last of her glass and poured herself another. I was going to have to play catch up here with my drink so downed the last of mine.

"Doesn't Ranger mind you flirting with other men then?" I asked.

Steph threw this question around in her head before answering. "Ranger knows its all part of the act. But anyway its not his place to tell me what to do or act around anyone". She took another large gulp of her drink. "Ranger and I have this understanding, but we are not in any kind of relationship" she said as she drained the rest of her glass and hiccupped. "You know I really don't drink much except beer. This is going straight to my head" she laughed as she poured yet another drink and finished the last of the coke.

"Whats this understanding then?" I asked her pouring myself a neat shot of JD.

"Well" she said moving through to the livingroom area to sit on the couch. "He's knows I'm in a serious relationship with Joe, but that doesn't stop him from poaching" she answered slightly slurring her words. She wasn't wrong about not handling her alcohol.

"Poaching?" I asked. I joined her on the couch taking the nearly half full bottle of JD with me.

"You know, trying to steal a kiss here, cop a feel there, jump into my bed with me whenever the chance arises. Not that we have sex or anything" she added. "Well only the once but I'm not going into that tonight".

"But what about this Joe?" I asked pouring us both another large JD each. "How does he feel about you doing these jobs and this relationship you have with Ranger? Surely its not fair on him" I said.

"He hates it, but I don't go into too much detail about what I am actually doing on these jobs, and he doesn't know anything about the poaching" she giggled and hiccupped again. "He's too busy joining forces with my mother trying to get me to give up my job and settle down with a job at the button factory" she looked sad again at the thought. "I've known Joe nearly all my life and there was always a certain element of danger and excitement about him which attracted me to him, but now that I've got to know him, and obviously cos he's matured, he's just Mr Dependable now." she finished with a large sigh and a larger gulp of her drink.

I looked at her for a moment and realised just how confused she was about the men in her life and her relationship with them. They were obviously taking their toll on her by the look of anguish in her eyes as she spoke.

"So maybe you're attracted to Ranger so much because he has that sense of danger around him" I ventured. "You love Joe for his dependability, but Ranger for the excitement".

She looked at me for a long moment then nodded her head "Carla, you've just said out loud what I have been thinking to myself for the last few months. Suddenly she stretched over to give me a big hug. "I've only known you for five minutes but I love you already" she gushed, probably due to the JD more than anything else. "Its so good having someone to talk to who's not already involved with Rangeman, my family or Trenten Police Department". She picked up the now nearly empty bottle of JD and poured the remaining liquid into two very large shots.

I picked my glass up and held it aloft. "You know what you need Stephanie Plum" I said standing up but then falling straight back down again. Oh dear maybe I was a tad more inebriated than I thought. I stood up again and raised my glass again. "You need a man free night" I declared. "Any man comes near us tonight, and I mean any man" I emphasised "we are going to give them the slip".

Steph jumped up with her glass and held it up beside mine "To no men whatsover" she shouted "except for our target though" she said in a whisper "we better not forget our actual aim for the night". We clinked our glasses and drained them in one go. Steph grimaced as the drink went down and I couldn't help but laugh. She really couldn't take the hard stuff.

"We need some music" she declared heading over to the entertainment system and hitting away at some random buttons.

"I'm on it" I said. Earlier I had noticed the Ipod docking station and had already worked out how to use it. I switched it on and quite fittingly the Black Eyed Peas "I Gotta Feeling" came on. I cranked up the volume and we started to dance about to the music. I felt about twenty one again, I honestly couldn't remember having this much fun before a night out for such a long time. Of course this wasn't a night out, this was work. But at that moment I honestly couldn't care.

The music was so loud and we were so busy jumping about like mad to chorus that we didn't hear the banging on the door. In fact the first thing we knew Tank was in the room was when he picked up the remote from the coffee table and turned off the music. We both stopped dancing and looked up at Tank in shock. Then we both fell to the couch in an uncontrollable fit of the giggles.

"Fuck Steph, Ranger's gonna go nuts" he shouted closing the door behind him. "You're both hammered" he said looking down at us shaking his head.

"We're fine Tankie" Steph said stifling a giggle but failing badly.

"Christ we're going to have to call this off, you can't work like this" Tank said digging out a radio from his cargoes.

"We're fine honestly Tank" I said standing up and steadying myself against his chest. "Mmm nice arms" I said running my hands down his big muscular arms.

"Oh Carla Lula will kill you if she finds out you been feeling up her man" Steph laughed waggling her finger at me. Tank just took a step back shaking his head again. "Steph doesn't normally drink before these jobs" he said looking at me accusingly.

"Hey I'm sick of you men telling what I can and can't do" Steph shouted jumping up and poking Tank in the chest. "Tonight I'm being my own woman" she proclaimed picking up her empty glass and downing absolutely nothing.

"Girl power" I shouted then we did a high five and tried a complicated handshake out for size, but we just ended up tickling each other and falling about laughing again.

"We're royally fucked" Tank said. "Ranger will not let this go ahead once he's seen the state of you two".

"We'll just have to make sure he doesn't see us then" Steph said.

"How we gonna do that?" Tank asked with a sneer.

"I have an idea" I proclaimed. "But we're going to need some help!"


	8. Chapter 8

Thanks to everyone for the comments. Keep them coming.

I'm not making any money for the use of Janet's characters, but if I could pimp Lester out I'd be rich! Carla is my character.

Chapter 10

"How the hell do you think you'll slip out past Ranger?" Tank asked glaring at me.

"Fire escape" I said triumphantly.

"There are camera's on the fire escape, there are fucking camera's everywhere. He'll see you" Tank replied with exasperation.

"Not if we get someone to distract him" Steph joined in. "I promise we'll have sobered up by the time we get there. We'll stick to juice in the club" she smiled sweetly at Tank and batted her eyelashes before slouching back on the couch.

Tank stood there for a long moment obviously trying to figure out in his head if was possible to sneak past Ranger. I had a suspicion that he had never managed to carry out this feat. He looked at us back and forth a few times before shaking his head and digging out his cell phone.

"Yo" he said to the call recipient. "You got Ranger with you?" he asked. He listened for a second before continuing "Hal we have a situation here, you need to scramble the camera's in the stair well, the 5th floor and the garage, and keep Ranger distracted in his office for five minutes" he listened some more while Hal was probably asking how the hell he was going to manage that. "You'll think of something, you'll need to do this now. Text me when the camera's are done" he barked and hung up.

"Right you two get ready to go" he ordered as he pressed another speed dial on his phone. "Yo Les meet me in the garage now, have a car ready. Don't tell Ranger just get down there. We gotta get the girls out before he sees them" he hung up before giving Lester any more explanation.

Tank motioned us over to the door and stood watching his phone. As soon as the text came through we were off heading for the fire escape. I was managing just fine on my heels now but Steph kept stumbling so Tank picked her up and flung her over his shoulder.

"Hey" she shouted. "What the fuck!"

"Shut it Bombshell" Tank shouted at her. "Its for your own good".

We ran down the five flights of stairs and entered the garage running. Lester was standing leaning against a SUV but soon stood to attention when he saw us coming. I couldn't help but stare at him. He was still in the usual all black but was wearing a pair of black jeans and a tight fitting black button down shirt. He looked good enough to eat! Tank put Steph down and headed for the drivers side. "Get them in" he shouted to Lester obviously he'd had enough of us for one night.

Les looked us up and down and gave us a 1000 watt smile. "Ladies" he said opening the door for us. Steph went first "Looking good Beautiful" he said to her as he helped her up into the vehicle. A stab of something, it could have been jealousy, hit me but I swallowed it back. I knew Steph wasn't interested in Lester. Neither was I told myself.

I stepped forward determined to get in the car without his help but he grabbed my arm anyway with a wicked grin on his face. "Evening Sweetness" he said as I struggled to release my arm and climb up into the car. I only succeeded in banging my head on the way in. I heard Lester laughing as he shut the door and ran round to the front passenger side. How did she get to be Beautiful and I didn't!

Tank gunned the engine and we raced out of the garage at some speed. He was going all out to avoid Ranger. As we sped along I kept noticing Tank looking at Steph and myself in the rear view mirror. Lester kept looking round and looking us up and down too. I should have felt uncomfortable but I didn't. Maybe it was just the effects of the alcohol but I felt damn sexy. Unconsiously I cross my legs, more for the fact that I was needing to pee, but this got another wolfish grin from Lester.

"Look at the road boys not the cleavage" I shouted to the two men in the front.

"Yeah" Steph joined in. "Lula would hit you upside the head if she knew where your eyes have been straying Tank".

"Oh boy Tank" Les said. "Tonight might be fucked but it's gonna be entertaining".

I turned to Steph who just raised her eyebrows and shrugged her shoulders as if to say "I told so you".

__________________________________________________________________

We arrived at Club Ice Blue fifteen minutes later. I gasped when I saw the line of people all down the block.

"Don't worry Sweetness we go in the back way" Lester explained.

We all piled out the car and crossed the street where a tall girl stood talking to a huge muscle man who looked suspiciously like a Merry Man.

My suspicions were confirmed when Lester and Tank greeted the man with one of those complicated handshake things. I was then introduced to Ram and Sasha. Ram looked to me like a clone of Hal's and I wasn't sure whether I would be able to distinguish between the two if I met them separately back at Rangeman. He gave me a lovely smile though and his handshake was suprisingly gentle. I decided I would maybe prefer to bump into Ram rather that Hal any day.

Sasha gave me a big smile and I instantly liked her. She was simply stunning. I was sure standing next to her I must look like an ugly duckling. She looked like Beyonce without the hips. In fact she looked like a super model. She was tall, slim, toned with tiny perky little breasts that were being hugged by a sheer gold coloured dress that set off her skin tone. She must have been around 6 foot tall but in her heels she stood half a head higher than me. The one thing that struck me was that most girls who looked that good would probably turn their nose up at the likes of me and Steph, but her demeanour was incredibly warm.

I went to shake hands with Sasha but she just grabbed me and gave me a big hug.

"Its lovely to meet you Carla, Ram has just been telling me all about you" Sasha then moved over to give Steph and big hug too. "Hey girlfriend, you looking a bit unsteady tonight, you not well or something?" she asked concern written all over her pretty face.

"She's drunk" Tank announced. "Carla decided a girlie get together was needed beforehand and this is the result" he said motioning with his thumb to the two of us.

"Dang, I'm sorry I missed that" Sasha laughed. "Sounded like fun".

Tank just stood and shook his head.

"C'mon girls" Sasha said linking an arm with Steph and myself "Lets get to work" . With that we sauntered off towards an alley heading down the rear of the club, leaving Tank, Lester and Hal to follow in our wake.

"Will we let Sasha in on our plan tonight?" I asked Steph.

"What plan is that then?" Sasha asked.

"We are having a man free night" Steph giggled "apart from our target of course".

"Sounds good to me" Sasha agreed "I'm not interested in any man apart from my Bobby anyway, I can't wait to see him tomorrow".

"Oh my God" Steph suddenly whispered. "I forgot to show Carla the file, she doesn't know what this guy looks like, or anything about him".

"Ram showed me a picture but I know no more than that. If I see him I'm to let you know Steph so you can do your stuff" Sasha said.

"We have another problem" I added still whispering. "Neither have us picked up our bags, we've no money with us".

"I've got some with me, but not enough to keep us all in drinks all night" Sasha said.

"We shouldn't be drinking any more tonight anyway" Steph said.

"Look girls here's what we're going to do" I said pulling to a stop "We've fucked up, I'll admit that but lets not tonight go to waste. We'll get drinks bought no problem from any guy we want, but we don't dance with them. Its still a no man night. We might aswell forget the target and enjoy ourselves. We'll take the consequences later".

"Has she not met Ranger yet?" Sasha asked Steph. "You gotta death wish or something Carla?"

"What you girls whispering about?" Lester asked catching up with us.

"Oh we were just arguing over who got to dance with you first Les" Steph said fluttering her eyelashes at him. She took his arm and let him lead her through the fire exit. "You can buy us a drink first while we discuss it between ourselves".

This girl was good I thought to myself as we followed into the club.

____________________________________________________________________

An hour later and Steph had certainly not sobered up as she had promised Tank. In fact she was absolutely legless!

We had so far managed to avoid any real contact with Ranger and his Merry Men, or indeed any other man for that matter, but had managed to obtain quite a lot of alcohol using our womanly charms. The few sightings I had seen of Rangers had been quite frightening. The man was furious.

The club was really smart, all cool decor and cooler people. There was a large sunken dancefloor surrounded by chrome rails and seating ranging from round high tables with standing room only to comfortable booths. There was a large modern bar running along one wall and steps up to a viewing gallery with big chill out seating arrangements. Currently the male Rangemen employees where scattered around the club in strategic positions. The female employees on the other hand, were giving it some on the dance floor.

I love dancing but haven't really been out clubbing much to get the opportunity to do it in public recently. I had however been attending a few exercise and dance classes so had learnt some moves that I probably wouldn't try back home. However the change of environment and of course the JD had made me lose my inhibitions and I was grinding away with the best of them. Steph in particular really looked like she was letting herself go. She looked so relaxed and beautiful. So different to the strained expression she had earlier in the day.

We were dancing away to Kelly Rowland's "When Love Takes Over" when a man approached me to dance so I did a little side shuffle that we had perfected to avoid such an approach, and Steph grabbed my hands so we could let the man know I wasn't interested in his advances. He shook his head and walked away.

The song finished so we headed over to the table Sasha was sitting with some friends she had met. Before we could get there though Ram stepped out of nowhere and went to speak to Sasha. Then from behind me an arm grabbed my waist and pushed me towards the fire exit. I shoved the arm away and turned to find a very pissed off looking Lester. He grabbed my arm again and reached over to hook Steph's arm too and pulled us again to an equally pissed off looking Tank who was waiting at the open fire exit door.

"Time to go" Tank said barely keeping his temper under control.

"Why" asked Steph as she held on to me for support. Now that she wasn't dancing she could hardly keep herself up.

"The target has left the building" Tank growled at us.

"Oh sorry we didn't see him" I said.

"He just asked you to dance Carla, and you turned him down" Tank said shaking his head.

"Oh" as all I could say before Steph and I both collapsed into each other laughing our heads off.

"Fuck this" Tank said angrily "I don't get paid enough for this shit". With that he picked Steph up, flung her over his shoulder again and marched out towards the waiting car.

I turned around to see Lester advancing on me with an evil glint in his eye.

"Oh no you don't" I said backing away from him towards the door. "I'm perfectly capable of walking out of here myself.

"I know, but this way is more fun" Lester laughed as he lunged for me. "Payback for the shit we'll get from Ranger for letting you out in this state" He then easily picked me up and threw me over this shoulder.

"My dress" I screamed trying to reach round and pull my dress back down over my behind.

"Don't worry I've got it covered" Lester said putting his hands over my thonged ass.

"You pervert" I screamed but Lester just laughed again.

We got over to the car where Tank had already dumped Steph in a heap in the back seat. Lester went round to the other side and slowly let me slide down his body until he had me pinned against the car. I tried to pull my dress down but he wouldn't let go of my arms. He kept me pinned in place with his hips while he tried to open the door.

"I can stand myself you know" I protested to his chest.

"Probably Sweetness, but again, this way is much more fun" he said into my hair.

"This is sexual harrassment" I shouted in his face.

"Yeah, but you seem to be enjoying it" he said glancing down my cleavage. I looked down and felt mortified at my nipples which were peaking out through the thin fabric of my bra. Lester ran his hands down the side of my body to my waist where he pulled the fabric of my dress back down over my hips. A shot of desire shot through me and I shuddered at his touch.

"Cold" Lester whispered. I looked up into his eyes which were two pools of pure lust. Oh boy.

"Yes I am" I replied curtly. I wasn't going to let him know how I really felt. He reached behind me into the car and pulled out a grey sweatshirt from under the seat.

"Here put this on then, you can return it to me later" he said helping me into the sweatshirt.

He finally lifted me up into the seat and pulled my seatbelt round me. I looked round at Steph to see if she had witnessed any of this embarrassing scene but she was already passed out in a heap. Two minutes later I had passed out myself!


	9. Chapter 9

All JE's except Carla

Chapter 11

I awoke the next morning to the sound of someone snoring loudly behind me. Fuck fuck fuck I thought to myself. Who the hell was in my bed, and what did we do last night? I felt around to discover I was in my bra, and further down I discovered I was wearing a pair of shorts, but no panties. I was lying on my side facing the bedroom door and I could see Lester's sweatshirt lying in a heap on the coffee table, and my dress in a similar state just outside the bedroom door. No sign of my thong.

My bed companion snored again loudly. I tried to remember the end of the night but all I could remember was Lester pressing his body against mine running his hands down my sides. But nothing else. Nada. I couldn't remember arriving back at Rangeman and certainly not getting undressed. So who was lying beside me. I was almost too scared to look. Could it be Lester? I certainly wouldn't have minded sharing a bed with Lester, but would be incredibly pissed off to have missed it all. What if I had stumbled across Hal last night on my way up to the apartment? What if I had grabbed him for a night of unbridled passion? Deep down I knew this to be unlikely as I just wasn't that type of girl. But I did have a hell of a lot to drink last night. What the hell had I done?

Just then my sleeping partner stirred and I felt a hand slowly and gently move across my arm. I looked down to see a manicured, pink nail polished hand. What the fuck!

I turned quickly to find a mop of unruly brown curls under the sheet. I pulled the covers back to find Steph, still completely dressed and still wearing her shoes.

"Steph!" I shouted. "Why are you in my bed?".

"What the . . ." Steph sat bolt upright and looked around taking in her surroundings. "Oh no, Joe is going to freak" with that she jumped up, went raking about for her bag and left.

"I'll call you" she shouted slamming the door.

I looked at the clock and saw that it was only 7.30am. Time for a bit more shut eye.

_________________________________________________________________________________

I awoke again to the smell of freshly brewed coffee and a hangover that had really kicked in. Had I dreamt that I had woke up next to Steph? The smell of coffee was strong and I could feel my insides start to heave. God bless Ella she had probably heard about the previous nights escapades and decided a strong coffee was needed. Unfortunately coffee does nothing for me when I'm hungover, a nice thick chocolate milkshake is my sure fire cure. I had bought a bottle yesterday along with the Jack Daniels in anticipation of feeling rough this morning. It was sitting in my fridge calling out to me.

I sat up and slowly swung my legs out the bed. I could see I was wearing my pyjama shorts but they were back to front, as well as inside out. One boob had creeped out the top of my lovely new Victoria's Secret push up bra, so I poked and prodded until I was properly covered again. I slowly got to my feet and stood while the room went for a spin. I felt the bile start to rise as my mouth started to water so I ran for the bathroom just making it. From the state of the toilet bowl it wasn't the first time I had been sick. Or it could have been Steph if she hadn't been a figment of a dream this morning.

I finished up, wiped and rinsed my mouth and looked it the mirror. I quickly looked away again. The shortest layers of my choppy hair were standing on end, and my super lengthening mascara was all round my eyes panda style. I hadn't heard Ella moving around so assumed she had put a pot of coffee on and left me to my own devices. No doubt I would hear from her again soon. I thought I better get that milkshake down me and fast!

I walked through to the bedroom grabbing a brush trying to tame my hair and through the door to the living room. I froze as I looked up. Lester was sitting at the dining table drinking a coffee. He slowly reached over to pour another cup, which I assumed was meant for me. He didn't say a word, and he didn't look happy. In front of him sat the file with the details of last night's target, an empty bottle of JD, and my thong!

My first instinct was to turn and run back into my bedroom and never come back out. But suddenly a smile started to twitch on Lester's face and I grew angry at the fact he had just made himself at home in my apartment. But I was also feeling humiliated at the fact that he had heard me throw up, as well the fact I was standing in front of him in next to nothing. Never mind that my thong was also sitting next to his coffee cup!

"You want to go throw some clothes on there Sweetness" he said obviously enjoying my discomfort.

Fuck you Lester Santos I thought to myself. I pulled myself together, held my head high and walked over to the table.

"I can handle it if you can" I echoed his words of my first morning here.

He flashed me grin as I sat down and pushed a coffee under my nose. I felt my insides start to squirm again and had to concentrate to holding my nausea back.

"Feeling a bit rough are we?" Lester asked still grinning.

I gave him a death glare. "What are you doing here anyway? Has nobody ever told you its rude to break in to peoples apartments?"

"I still have a fob remember" he said smugly "You told me I could keep it so I assumed I had an open ended invite to visit whenever I wanted".

"You thought wrong then?" I glared back at him.

"Ranger wants to see you. Now!" Lester said

"He can wait" I said.

Lester sat back and stared at me for a few seconds before his eyes started to head south to my cleavage. I had to hand it to him he had done well not to stray beforehand. He had held my eyes the whole time. I suddenly felt really exposed so I jumped up and moved over to the fridge where I could at least put the open door between us. I found my bottle of chocolate milk and took a long swig of it. I closed my eyes as it eased my raw throat and went lower to comfort my upset stomach. I may even have let out a small moan.

"Where did you get the scar" Lester said. I jumped at his voice. I was so busy enjoying my almost orgasmic drink I hadn't heard Lester close the distance between the table and fridge.

"What scar?" I asked trying to get deeper in to the fridge.

"This scar" he said moving round the fridge door. He traced a long finger from just above my belly button to just below where my bra where the scar continued under. That scar. I didn't want to tell him about that scar. I grabbed his hand to stop it going any further and also because his touch was doing things to me that I would rather not admit.

"Oh, just an old surgery scar. I'll go a grab a shower then go see Ranger" I said trying to move past Lester.

"No time for a shower Sweetness, he wants to see you now. You want to let me go now or do you need some help getting dressed" Lester said with a sly grin.

I looked down to see I was still holding the hand I had grabbed earlier. I dropped it like a hot potato.

"I'm going now, but if you're not down in ten minutes I'm coming back to get you" Lester said heading to the door. "I'd love to wait to walk you down, but I might be tempted to do something you might regret". He gave me a wink and then left, leaving me standing there with my mouth hanging open. Luckily the fridge door was still open!

______________________________________________________________________

Twenty minutes and a quick shower later I was heading down to the control room. I decided to take the stairs as I didn't think my stomach was up to the fast moving elevator. I quietly entered the control room. The stair well was near a corner at the back of the room between two cubicles so I peaked around to see who was in the room. There was no one occupying any of the rear cubicles. I looked just in time to see Steph and Sasha enter the elevator. Steph had obviously been home as she was dressed in jeans and a jacket. If she had been there this morning at all. Sasha had her arm around her and as they turned to face the elevator doors I could see Steph was crying. Oh fuck I thought. Ranger must have been really mad. I wasn't ready to face this alone. I turned tail to head back to the stair and slammed into a solid wall of muscle. Lester muscle.

"How did you know?" I gasped.

"Thought you might try to sneak in quietly and not make a grand entrance from the elevator" he said looking down at me.

"Steph was crying" I whispered

"Hey Sweetness" Lester said gently "It's not what you think, you don't need to look so worried" he used a finger to gently brush a damp wisp of hair from my left eye before letting his fingers trace a line down my face before lifting my chin to look into his eyes. I thought for a moment he was going to kiss me and I felt my knees start to buckle. I got myself together before pushing him away. I didn't need this, not yet anyway.

"C'mon, Batman awaits" Lester said taking my arm and leading me down the room to Ranger's office.

"I can do this" I said snapping at Lester. _I can do this_ I said again to myself.

"Good luck then" Lester said with a small smile and left me at the door.

I knocked, then I opened the door and took a step into the lion's den.


	10. Chapter 10

**Not sure if I like this chapter or not, but not getting much peace from the kids this week. Please let me know what you think.**

**Usual stuff applies - it just ain't mine, not yet anyway!**

Chapter 12

Ranger was sitting down at his desk when I entered. He closed the file he had been reading and sat back in his chair, elbows bent, hands behind his head. He looked at the chair in front of him and I assumed this was my cue to sit. I sat down, looking at my feet, and waited for the shouting to commence. After what seemed like hours but could only have been a couple of minutes, I found some courage to look at him. He just stared back at me, not saying a word. Okay so he was probably quite good at this, he must know quite a lot about interrogation techniques. I had watched enough American cop shows to know that if you keep quiet, the suspect feels the need to fill the silence and will more than likely admit to anything, even if innocent. And this was exactly what I was about to do!

"Look Ranger, I'm sorry okay" I said quietly "It's all my fault, I shouldn't have talked Steph into having a drink beforehand. I didn't realise she couldn't handle her alcohol. I'll take full responsibility for the screw up and your wasted evening and letting your target get away. I know you spent a lot of time and effort and probably a lot of money on last night" I blurted everything out in one breath and paused for a second to get another. I remembered the look on Steph's face as the doors of the elevator closed and suddenly got angry. "But no matter how much we fucked up, there was no need to make Steph cry" I said louder now. I remembered Lester saying her crying wasn't what I thought but there was no stopping me now. "If you want to shout at anyone Ranger shout at me, you won't make me cry as easy as Steph" I finished sitting glaring at Ranger, still waiting for the tirade that would surely follow.

We sat staring at each other for a few more moments. Ranger finally sat forward and picked up a remote from his desk and aimed it at a small flatscreen TV fixed to the far wall of the office.

"If you had both been sober enough last night then yes, I probably would have shouted at you then, I maybe would have even made you cry Carla" Ranger said narrowing his eyes at me. "But as it was I just had Lester and Tank take you both up to your apartment to let you sleep it off. I had fully intended on letting you both know exactly how I felt this morning. However on reviewing the security camera footage from last night I have seen things very differently. I have only two words to say to you this morning Carla" he said his eyes softening slightly.

"I'm fired!" I offered. "Go home, you're dead" I added some more suggestions.

"Thank you" Ranger said laughing at my suggestions. Yes Ranger was actually laughing!

"Thank you!" I gasped. "Thank you for fucking up your evening!"

"Just watch the screen please Carla then I will explain" Ranger said as the screen on the television came into life. There was no sound and the camera was obviously filming in night vision as there was a green tinge to the picture and we all looked a little odd. But it was clearly Steph and I dancing around a little crazily on the dance floor. I looked over at Ranger who was watching with just a hint of a smile playing on his lips and a soft gooey look around his eyes. He didn't look a scary boss man now, he looked like a man in love.

"Please keep watching the screen Carla" Ranger said without taking his eyes from the television. How did he do that!

I turned back and watched again. I had to fight back a wave of embarrassment watching myself dancing away on the screen, obviously a lot drunker than I had thought I was. Lester suddenly appeared on the screen and tried to put his arm around my waist to pull me in for a dance, but Steph walked over to him and slapped him away. She then pulled me further onto the dance floor and we did some kind of what I can only describe as a jive type move. I was turning Steph under my arm and then she would do the same to me. Lester just shrugged his shoulders then disappeared out the shot of the camera. A few moments later Ram appeared on the screen and this time tried to get Steph to dance. Again we managed to sidestep him and this time we started some kind of Dirty Dancing move. It was actually very funny to watch, but also very cringe worthy.

"What is your whole point here Ranger" I asked. "What do you need to thank me for?".

"Just watch the screen, just for a few more minutes please" Ranger replied.

I turned back just as the camera was zooming in on Steph's face. She looked so happy and so beautiful, as if she didn't have a care in the world as she twirled around the floor. Yes she looked really drunk but she also looked like she was having the time of her life. Obviously the 'no man' idea had worked its magic. She had lost her stressed out look she wore when she turned up at my apartment.

Ranger froze the screen just as Steph was looking almost directly into the camera. She wore a serene smile and her arms were up in the air as she was dancing to whatever song had been playing at the time.

"That is what I want to thank you for Carla" Ranger explained. "In all the time I have known Stephanie, I have never seen her so happy and relaxed, even when she is not bounty hunting or doing distraction jobs for me. Whatever magic it was you worked on her, and I'm not just talking the bottle of Jack Daniels you both consumed beforehand, you found a way to let the real Stephanie shine through. I don't even think myself or her . . . . . boyfriend Morelli" he spat the last two words "have seen this side of Steph before. And it's all down to you Carla" he smiled as he sat forward to lean his arms on the desk. "Thank you again Carla" he finished.

"Well, your welcome" I said shocked at what had transpired. " Are you going to shout at me now though?" I asked.

Ranger laughed and shook his head but didn't answer. But why had Steph been crying as she left?

"Steph received some bad news this morning while she was here to see me" Ranger said reading my mind. Did they all have this ESP thing going on here at Rangeman?

"Her grandmother has been rushed to hospital, it doesn't sound too good" he continued. "Steph is very close to her Grandma Mazur so was very upset. Sasha was here to see Bobby so offered to run her to the hospital. I can assure you at no time did I shout at her" he added "In fact I was just about to show her this footage and maybe explain and few things to her" he said.

"What things?" I asked.

No answer. Ranger picked up the file he had been reading and handed it to me.

"If you are still interested Carla, we have very good intel that our target Andreas Belivanis will be back at Club Ice Blue this evening. He was obviously very interested in you last night, so I would appreciate if you would consider helping us out again tonight?" he asked "Possibly without the help of Jack Daniels this time" he said with a slight twitch of his mouth which I took to be a hint of a smile.

"I take it Steph won't be there this time?" I asked.

"No she won't" Ranger replied "I'm not going to bother Steph while she has personal problems, as I think she would probably still be willing to work for me even under the circumstances". He sat back in his seat again and did the steepling of the fingers under the chin he does so well. "Steph was supposed to leave with Belivanis if he showed any interest in her, so he would lead us to where he goes with his . . . . victims" he said.

"Victims!" I said narrowing my eyes at him "What victims would that be then?" I asked. I wasn't about to volunteer to be a victim of a man mad.

"I'll let you read the file but in brief, Belivanis is suspected to be behind the disappearance of quite a few girls from the Club Ice Blue and other clubs too. All have the same thing in common, they are all white, mid to late twenties, and all from respectable backgrounds. The few that have turned up alive all have the same thing in common again, they are all addicted to crack, and all working as prostitutes for known associates of Belivanis. The girls are all so drug addled that they don't really know who they are or what they have become" he finished. I thought Ranger was a man of few words but I was clearly wrong about that one.

I thought about what he had said for a second, my mind reeling about what he was asking me to do.

"You said a few of these victims have turned up alive, what about the others?" I asked already dreading his answer.

Ranger looked at me for a second before replying, maybe weighing up if I really could handle this or not. "The other girls have turned up dead. Or they haven't turned up at all" he said bluntly.

"And you want me to find him, charm him, then leave with him?" I asked.

"Yes" Ranger replied.

"Okay then" I said taking the file from him and looking at the photograph clipped to the inside. I couldn't recollect him at all from last night, but I couldn't recollect much at all.

"Are you sure?" Ranger asked. "I don't want to pressure you into doing something you don't feel comfortable about. Ella has told me a little about what you do for a living back home, and I don't recall her mentioning any covert operations with big scary men" he said making me laugh.

"No this is all new to me" I replied "But I have to admit I do find it all quite exciting. I won't be in any real danger though will I, I mean you will be following me if I leave the club with him?" I asked suddenly wondering how this was going to work.

"You will be fitted with the same tracking device Steph had last night" He explained. "It was obvious that Belivanis had noticed you and not Steph but we wouldn't have let you leave with him last night. It would have been too risky without having a trace on you, plus the fact you were . . . . "

"Pished oot ma brain, as we would say back home" I said in my best Scottish dialect.

"Couldn't have put it better myself" Ranger laughed warmly. I could see again why Steph was so attracted to this man. Her boyfriend Joe must be something else if she was having difficulty choosing between the two.

"Would Sasha not be better qualified for this, she said she had done a couple of these jobs with Steph before" I asked.

"Sasha is not the type Belivanis goes for, for a start she isn't white, and she also isn't as . . . . " he pondered as if looking for the right word "she isn't as ample as you are" he finished.

"You mean she isn't as fat as me?" I said narrowing my eyes at him.

"No I don't mean that at all" Ranger replied with some amusement in his eyes. "Lets just say that Sasha lacks the assets that you carry with you Carla" he said as his eyes strayed to my 'ample' cleavage.

"Oh" was all I could say. Well my assets had definitely been out there for everyone to see over the last 24 hours. Some had seen more than their fair share.

"You will be briefed again on the way Carla, you will be travelling with myself tonight so no trying to escape down the fire escape this time" he said with a straight face. "We will be travelling with Tank, Lester and Bobby. Take this file and read through it thoroughly. I'll answer any questions you have tonight. We leave at 2100 hours exactly" he said. I got the feeling this conversation was now at an end so stood up to leave.

"I take it I need to dress appropriately again?" I asked. "I mean I take it I need to show my 'assets' to their full glory" I said.

"Yes Carla, your dress last night was just perfect for your assets" he said eyes glinting. I started to feel a bit hot and bothered that he was thinking about my assets and wished I hadn't been quite so bold with him. But I wasn't going to back down now.

"Oh I can't wear the same dress to the same club two nights in a row!" I said. "I'll have to go shopping I'm afraid, I have only packed one slut dress with me this trip" I said innocently.

Ranger sighed and opened a drawer in his desk. He pulled out a credit card and handed it to me.

"Oh no I didn't mean I wanted you to pay " I blurted out "I have money I can buy myself something" I said.

"Take it, buy what you need" Ranger said "Get yourself a new pair of heels to go with the outfit. Take Lester with you, he can authorise the company credit card".

"What" I said taken aback. "You want me to take Lester shopping? Is he not really busy just now?" I asked.

"I can spare him for a couple of hours, but if you would rather take someone else . . . " Ranger said with a deadpan face.

"No it's fine I'll ask Lester. Thank you Ranger" I said gratefully.

"Just call it payment for the job you are doing for Rangeman tonight, and thank you again Carla". I was dismissed.

I walked out of his office and walked over to Lester, who was up to his eyes, literally, in brown folders. "Hey Lester" I said sitting in the chair opposite his desk.

"Carla, you're smiling" Lester said smiling back at me "I take it your didn't get the grilling you expected".

"No actually it was . . . . interesting I think is the best way to put it" I leaned over his desk and picked up the folder he was working on and put it back in his In Tray "You have a couple of hours off work now to chauffeur me about" I said to him.

"I do?" he said eyebrows raised in surprise. "Where I am taking you. I take it you cleared it with the boss man"? he asked.

"Oh yes, in fact it was Ranger's idea" I said. "You, Lester Santos, are taking me shopping!" I stated.

A big grin spread over Lester's face as he stood up "Well I better go and change into something more casual then, wouldn't want to scare any old ladies at the mall. I'll meet you back here in ten" he winked and headed for the elevator.

This was just too good to be true I thought as I remembered Lula's challenge. I, Carla Macrae, was going to win my challenge, and get a Merry Man to go into Victoria's Secret with me. And it was going to be fun!

My hangover was completely forgotten about as I sat back and waited for the lamb heading to the slaughter!

**Please review - it makes me happy!**


	11. Chapter 11

**Sorry this one took a bit longer. Hope you enjoy.**

**Usual disclaimer applies. If you recognise it, it's Janet's**

Chapter 13

Twenty minutes later and I was still sitting in the control room waiting for Lester. I had finally plucked the courage up to go speak to Hal. I needed to get in touch with Ella to let her know my plans and to arrange to meet up with her later. Hal had dialled her extension for me. She wasn't overly happy with me working again tonight but didn't say too much. She was going out shopping in the afternoon so we arranged on a definite lunch date for tomorrow. She told me to be careful and to stick with the men. They would look after me.

Hal was now showing me some of the search programs I would be using when I started doing research for Rangeman tomorrow. They all seemed pretty straightforward and I knew my way around a computer. All I had to do really was do the searches then print out the information I found. Piece of cake. Hal was actually a bit of a comedian under all the muscle, and he had just finished telling me how they sneaked doughnuts passed Ranger when Lester walked out the elevator. I did a double take when I saw him. He was dressed in faded blue jeans, navy t shirt, brown CAT boots and a well worn brown leather jacket. Gone was the usual black hat and his black hair fell across his forehead into his eyes and curled up slightly at the neck of his jacket. I thought he would probably still scare little old ladies but any female under the age of 50 would probably swoon at the sight of him. I know I was struggling not to. I heard a chuckle behind me and realised I had a death grip on Hal's leg. Not that he could probably feel anything.

"You want to stop drooling now" Hal said in my ear "No need to feed Les's ego, its fat enough already".

"Shut up Hal" I said letting go of his leg but giving it a slap for good measure. I got up and headed for Lester's desk where he was shuffling some folders about.

"You ready for this?" I asked him watching as he picked four or five folders from the top of the pile.

"Two seconds Sweetness" he answered. "Just going to pass some of this work to Hal, looks like he could do with something to keep him busy" He walked over to the desk Hal had been sitting at. "Fuckin' Rodriguez" he said dumping the files on the desk.

"Shit man, does he never give up" Hal said "How bout we swap and I'll take Carla shopping".

"No fuckin' way Hal, Ranger's orders" Lester said with a laugh. He turned to me and offered me his arm. I just rolled my eyes and headed over to the elevator. I was looking forward to this shopping trip but Hal was right, Lester did have a big ego and I wasn't going to give him the satisfaction of having me hanging off his arm like some possession.

Lester pouted and feigned disappointment but could only hold the expression for a few seconds before his grin returned. "You not changing or slapping the war paint on for our expedition?" he asked as we got into the elevator.

"Nope, no amount of make up is going to hide the fact I'm hungover and look like hell, so no point wasting time on it" I said hitting the button for the garage.

"Shut up Carla you look gorgeous as ever, especially with that glow you women seem to get with the thought of buying shoes" he said.

I did feel I was glowing but it was Lester's close proximity in the elevator that was causing it and even more so now after his comment he just made about me being gorgeous. I don't know about Lester's ego but he was certainly working wonders for mine! We exited the elevator into the garage and I followed him not sure which vehicle he was going to head for. Lester walked over to a shiny black Mercedes convertible.

"This your car?" I asked. I didn't know much about cars but this one seemed like sex on wheels with its sleek lines and leather interior.

"Ranger's, but I talked him into lending it to me, seeing as I am being chauffeur for the morning" he answered stepping around me so he could hold the door open for me. I climbed in as elegantly as I could and just thanked God I wasn't wearing a short skirt this morning.

_____________________________________________________________________________

Twenty minutes later and we were standing in the mall. When I was with Lula and Steph I had just let them take the lead but now with only Lester for company I wasn't quite sure where best to head for a dress.

"So what exactly are we here for?" Lester asked noticing my unease.

"A slut dress and shoes for tonight" I replied looking around for inspiration. I could see a few boutiques but didn't know which one to head for first. I didn't want to go somewhere too expensive but at the same time wanted something I could possibly wear again. After all it's not every day you get an outfit for free! "I suppose we could head for Macy's" I said thinking about the outfit Steph had got there.

"I think I know the place you need" Lester said putting his large hand on the small of my back and leading me towards one of the more expensive looking boutiques.

"Why are you an expert on the best place to buy a dress?" I asked surprised that he had taken control like that.

"I have three sisters, one older, two younger, so I know a thing or two about shopping" he said opening the door of the store. "My youngest sister Marie used to work here, and the other two were always here taking advantage of the discount".

The store was small, but well stocked. It wasn't so designer that there was only a few outfits on display like some other places I had been. My eyes instantly fell on a deep purple satin halter neck top. Lester must have realised I had spotted it as he walked over and selected one from the rail. It was my size too. He obviously knew his stuff.

"You sure it wasn't you who worked here?" I teased taking the top from him.

"I would like to say I was an expect at judging women's bodies" he said glancing up and down mine "but I saw the label on your dress lying outside your bedroom door" he grinned.

"Wait a second, please don't tell me you were in the apartment when I got undressed last night? I said face burning with embarrassment.

"No I saw it when I looked in on you to make sure you were still breathing while I made the coffee this morning. Can you really not remember getting home last night then?" he laughed.

"Not much. I take it I fell asleep on the way back? I asked. I hated losing chunks of my memory after drinking. Well most of the time anyway. Sometimes it's good not to remember!

"You were both out. Tank decided the best thing to do would be to leave Steph with you, but in the end we had no choice" he chuckled softly to himself "once we got you both up to your apartment you had both sobered up enough to kick us out and slam the door in our faces, yelling "no men night" at us.

I laughed at this. We had stayed loyal to the end. At least I was now a bit more clear on what happened at the end of the night.

"Anyway you showed me a lot more this morning than I would have hoped for" he teased.

My face burned again "You had annoyed me by breaking in, I wanted to make you feel uncomfortable".

"Gorgeous, it certainly wasn't discomfort I was feeling this morning" he breathed in my ear.

The rest of my body burned as badly as my face as I backed away from him "Need to try this on" I croaked my voice failing me.

"Hope you're not planning on wearing that top as a dress, it's a bit short even for me babe!" Lester grinned again.

I grabbed a black satin pencil skirt hanging on a rail next to the top and headed through an archway to the fitting rooms at the back of the shop. There was two cubicles with wooden swinging saloon type doors and a small seating area where Lester ambled over to, to sit and wait for me. I didn't like the fact that he could see me from the shoulders up and the knees down.

"Do you thing you could wait outside while I change" I said sharply.

"I'm just here, it's not as if I can see any more than I already have" he winked.

"Well I'm sober now, and this is just too intimate. I'm not always a complete slut" I said just a shop assistant appeared from nowhere. She took one look and Lester and I and disappeared again. Lester just sat grinning up at me.

"Please Lester" I finally pleaded.

"Okay but I want you to come out and model it for me" he said standing up and heading back through the archway. Not on your life I thought to myself.

I undressed as quickly as I could feeling exposed by the small doors. I preferred a nice big curtain myself! The skirt was high waisted and was made of a beautiful soft satin that fell to just above my knees, but it had a split up the right leg which went three quarters of the way up my thigh. I put the top on and it fitted perfectly. I tucked it into the skirt and temporarily adjust my bra straps so they weren't visible under the halter neck. Okay so I wasn't showing any cleavage but with the right bra I would still be right up there in the visibility stakes. I was also showing a lot more thigh than was probably necessary. The only problem was I couldn't do the zip at the back of the blouse right up to the top. I was writhing and struggling to reach it when Lester's voice nearly made me jump out my skin.

"Need some assistance there?" he asked and before I could answer he had reached over the top of the doors to pull the zip up. "Very nice" he said his eyes raking up and down my outfit.

"I thought you agreed to stay out" I said angrily.

"No you agreed I should stay out" he replied leaning his arms over the top of the doors. "You need shoes to go with this outfit?" he asked.

"I'll go to Macy's , I think they still have a sale on" I said pushing his arms off and pointing to the door way.

"Hang on I've just seen the perfect pair" he said disappearing back out to the store. Although I was pissed off that he didn't respect my boundaries he did seem to be taking this whole shopping trip seriously. It might actually be over quicker than I thought and I could go back to bed for a few hours.

He returned a few minutes later with a gorgeous pair of shoes, in my size again. They were a deep purple that matched the top, and were made of a soft suede that felt like velvet. They had four inch heels and a delicate ankle strap. A fantastic pair of FMP's!

"Thank you" I said in shock. They were indeed perfect. I forgot my initial shyness and went over to the small couch to sit down and put the shoes on. I stood up, smoothed the skirt down and walked over to the large mirror on the wall outside the cubicles. It was the first time I had looked at myself in a full length mirror, dressed up, in a very long time. I was amazed to see how good I looked. With the weight I had lost and the exercise I was doing I looked pretty damn great. I looked at my face in the mirror and the stupid big cheesy grin I couldn't get rid of. Then I noticed Lester's reflection. He was standing right behind me but he wasn't grinning. He was looking at me like I look at cheesecake! My shyness came back and I ran back into the cubicle to change. I heard Lester let out a low chuckle and turned to see him walk out the changing rooms.

________________________________________________________________________________

Fifteen minutes later we were standing outside the store with my new purchases. I didn't see the final total but I thought it might have been ten times as much as I would normally pay for an outfit.

"You want to go grab some lunch?" Lester asked. "All this shopping can wear a man out" he said.

"Sure" I replied. I was in fact starving and wasn't sure if he could hear my stomach telling the world about my hunger.

We headed up the escalator to the food hall and headed for one of the concessions. We both grabbed some lunch and took a table in a quiet corner overlooking the floor below. I could see Victoria's Secrets from my vantage point and a plan started forming in my head. I did actually have an excuse to go there now as I needed a multiway bra to wear with the halter neck.

We had both got salads for lunch. Lester eyed mine warily. "I wouldn't have though a salad would make a decent hangover cure" he said.

"I feel much better now actually" I said "I'm not one of those people who need a pile of grease the morning after".

"Very healthy" he commented. He acted surprised.

"C'mon it's not that healthy" I said poking at my salad with my fork. "It's got chicken, croutons, bacon bits, not to mention the creamy salad dressing. There's probably as much fat in here as a McDonald's". Unlike Lester's which was just a pile of leaves.

He saw me eying up his salad and laughed. "I'm planning a nice juicy steak later, have to balance everything out".

"So you look after yourself then?" I asked

"We have to, if we can't cut it Ranger send's us to the gym for hours on end until we are fit enough. If you don't make the grade then you're out" he replied.

"How long have you known Ranger?" I asked, curious now about the whole Rangeman thing, and Lester was obviously quite the talkative one.

"Most of my life" he replied. "Our parent's are good friends. As teenagers we hung around, got into trouble together. Probably a bit too much trouble in the end. Ranger's family spent some time in Miami but came back eventually. Ranger went off to college, then joined the army. He came back on leave a year later and talked me into signing up. I was stuck in a rut with some very dodgy friends. If I hadn't I would probably have ended up in jail" he stopped and looked at me, maybe wondering if I would like this side to him.

"So how did Rangeman come about?" I asked. We all had a past, have done things we're not proud of. I wasn't going to judge him on things that happened years ago.

"We met Tank and Bobby while in the army and have been a team ever since. When we got out we decided to set up Rangeman. We have an office in Miami too, but we all prefer living up here, so we have another team that runs Miami, although we all have to take a turn at going down there, especially just now. We are having a few problems down there at the moment" he said with a grim face.

"What kind of problems?" I asked.

"Nothing to worry your pretty little head about" he answered finishing the last of his salad and eyeing up the piece of cheesecake I had sitting beside my salad.

"Don't even think about it" I said narrowing my eyes. "You should have got your own". I finished my salad and moved onto my cheesecake before he could steal it. "So if you are a team, why is Ranger the boss?" I asked.

"Ranger is a born leader. He was our superior officer in the Rangers so it was just natural that he took command at Rangeman too. Bobby, Tank and I are silent partners though so do have a say on what goes on" he said.

"So what does go on at Rangeman then?" I asked becoming very curious.

"C'mon Carla enough questions" Lester replied. "Tell me something about yourself instead of talking shop. I've got a couple hours off I don't want to talk about work".

"What do you want to know?" I asked.

"Why are you here?" he asked.

I looked up from my cheesecake at him trying not to choke on the piece in my mouth. I took a sip of water to help it down. He was certainly straight to the point.

"I'm here to see Ella, you know that" I replied.

"Yeah, I know you are here to see Ella because of something that happened back home" he said gently. "I know what you do for a living, or should I say did do for a living, where you live, about your mum, and that you have an ex boyfriend that you don't want to talk about" he finished.

I took a few seconds to compose myself before I answered. "And how do you know all this information, do you have a file on my too?" I asked angrily.

"We do" he replied.

"You are fucking joking" I shouted. "Why do you have a file on my and where did you get the information. Was I one of your searches" I pushed the last of my cheesecake away, no longer hungry.

"Calm down Carla" Lester said taking the cheesecake and taking a forkful. "We have files on everyone who works for us, even on a temp basis, and especially the ones living at Haywood too. But I didn't run a detailed search on you, all the information we have on you came from Ella. Don't be angry at her, it was the only way Ranger would agree to let you stay under the same roof as her".

"What did she say about me then?" I asked.

"That you haven't said why you came all this way to see her, but that she thinks it's something to do with the boyfriend. She's really worried about you Carla" he said quietly.

I didn't know what to say. I hadn't realised Ella had confided in anyone about my situation. The truth was I just needed to be near Ella. I didn't really want to discuss any of my problems with her. Just being here with her was enough comfort.

"You want to talk about it?" Lester asked when he realised I wasn't going to say anything.

"Not really" I said looking down playing with my napkin.

"Did he hurt you?" Lester asked.

"What?" I looked up quickly and glared at him. "I told you I don't want to talk about it. Can we go now? I said starting to rise.

Lester gently grabbed my arm and pulled me back down. "I was going to ask if he had been unfaithful to you but I think it's more than that isn't it?" He was still speaking gently and still had a light hold on my arm. "He's physically hurt you hasn't he?"

I took a deep breath and looked into Lester's soft brown eyes. I hadn't ever spoken to anyone about my relationship, and didn't want to start now. But Lester was being so kind and gentle.

"Look Les," I said "If I tell you will you just leave it, I really don't want to think about it, or talk about it to you, or anyone else for that matter".

Lester just nodded.

"Okay he was violent towards me, and I put up with it. For too long." I took a deep breath and continued. "But it's over now, he's out the picture. I just wanted to put some space between us and visit Ella. Now please don't ask me any more, and Les, please don't tell Ella any of this, or I'll shoot you with your own gun" I finished, swallowing hard on the lump in my throat that had formed.

He laughed gently and moved his hand down my arm to and put it lightly over mine. "Are you sure you are up to this job tonight? Ranger will understand if you can't handle it" he said.

"I can handle it" I said angrily. "Just because I have been a victim once doesn't mean I will always be a victim. I've toughened up, taken self defence classes. I'm not who I used to be".

"You don't need to be ashamed of what happened to you" Lester said.

"Just leave it okay" I said standing up. This time he didn't stop me. I looked down towards Victoria's Secrets and decided I needed to distract Lester away from my personal problems. "I need to go buy some new underwear for tonight. Are you staying here or coming with me?"

"I wouldn't miss this for the world" he said standing up and picking my bags up for me. "But Carla" he said moving over to me and putting an arm gently around my shoulders. "You know where I am if you want to talk" he said quietly.

"Thanks but I won't" I said.

"Remember I've got three sisters, I'm a good listener" he said.

"Is this you getting in touch with your feminine side Les?" I joked trying to lift the mood.

"I would rather be in touch with you're feminine side" he whispered in my ear.

"This is thing with you Les" I laughed swatting him on the arm. "One minute you are all Mr Sensitive then you turn into a complete pervert" I laughed.

"I try my best" he said giving me a quick hug.

We headed downstairs to Victoria's Secrets

______________________________________________________________________________

I was standing looking at a display of bra's. Or pretending to anyway. I was actually wondering how I was going to get the proof Lula needed that I had a Merry Man in Victoria's Secret. I selected a black multiway bra in my size and matching thong for my outfit tonight. I looked over at Lester who was standing looking at a rail of corsets. He certainly didn't seem uncomfortable or at all bothered by the fact he was in here. I suddenly remembered the cell phone he had given me and wondered if it had a camera. I discreetly checked and found that it did. I moved a bit closer to him and couldn't believe my luck when he actually picked out a corset from the display. I quickly lifted the phone and took a picture. Unfortunately it made a loud camera style clicking sound which Lester heard. He spun round to face me a look of astonishment on his face. I burst out laughing at his expression.

"What the fuck? He said looking at me.

"I'm sorry" I sniggered. "Lula and Steph set me a challenge to get one of you Merry Men in here, and get proof. I just couldn't resist."

Lester stood and looked at me for a long moment before slowly walking over to me, the corset still in his hand.

"Okay I'll let this one go, but you owe me now" he said in a low, almost menacing voice.

"Oh yeah" I said "I don't think so!"

"Oh I think so Carla" he said backing me into the bra display. "You are going to have to model for me. And you're going to model this" he said handing me the corset.

I gulped and looked at what I was holding. It was a beautiful purple satin boned corset with two black lace panels either side of a hook and eye front fastening. It also had a black ribbon lace up back. It was gorgeous.

"How do you know it's my size?" I asked.

"Oh it's your size alright" he said.

I looked at the label and it was indeed my size. It was also very expensive.

"I don't think Ranger will appreciate me spending this amount on something I don't need for tonight" I said trying to get out of this modelling business.

"I'll cover it" Lester said taking out a personal credit card from him wallet. He grabbed my arm and led me back over to the display he had been standing at.

"The till's are this way" I said trying to wriggle away from him.

"I know, but you're gonna need some accessories to go with that" he said pulling me towards him. "And the shoes will finish the look of perfectly" he said into my hair.

I felt myself go weak at the knees being so close to him. As much as I wanted to push him away my hormones were telling me not to resist. I had never felt this way with any other man before, ever. I felt a rush of wetness down below that was so unfamiliar to me. I hadn't felt that sensation since I was a teenager. I quickly pushed him away then, out of embarrassment rather than anything else.

"I'll delete the picture Les, just forget about it" I said turning away from him.

"You're not getting out of it that easily Sweetness" he said turning me back towards him. "But Carla" he said lifting my chin with his finger "Whenever you're ready, not before".

Oh fuck! My body was so ready, but my mind was still locked in the past.

**Please review if you liked it, or even if you didn't**


	12. Chapter 12

**This is just a short wee filler. Hope you enjoy.**

**Janet owns the character, except Carla.**

Chapter 14

We arrived back at Rangeman just after 2pm. We made idle chit chat on the journey home. Lester told me a few more things about Rangeman and didn't push me for any more information about myself. We were just heading for the elevator when Tank and Ranger appeared from behind the doors.

"What's up?" Lester asked them.

"Got a situation at the hospital, Steph's asked for back up." Tank replied heading for a SUV.

"Need any help?" Lester asked.

Ranger turned to him and grinned. "Well since you're offering Les, jump in. It seems Grandma Mazur is feeling much better today. So much so that she has disappeared into the men's ward, and a few of the elderly gentleman have taken a shine to her." Ranger grinned again. "Steph has asked us to help diffuse the situation and help get her grandmother out with her dignity still intact".

"I don't think it's her grandmother's dignity she needs to worry about" Tank laughed.

"Sounds like you got this one covered guys." Lester said backing away from them looking, if I wasn't mistaken, scared!

"Oh I think we need you Santos" Tank said towering over Lester as he shoved him in the back of the SUV. "Edna always did like your package". At that both Tank and Ranger roared with laughter as Lester looked at me helplessly.

"You want to come along for the ride, see us in action?" Tank asked.

"No I think I'll give it a miss, thanks all the same" I said heading for the elevator in case he decided to throw me in the car too. "I've got a file to read up on". I jumped in and pressed the button for 5 before anyone could stop me. Steph's grandmother sounded like a character!

* * *

Back up at my apartment I unpacked and put away my purchases and put a pot of coffee on. I then got myself comfortable to sit down and read my file.

I looked at the picture clipped to the file. A handsome man with dark curly hair cut short with startling green eyes looked back at me. Andreas Belivanis was the son of Greek millionaire, Yiannis Belivanis, who spent half his time in Athens and the other half in Jersey. Andreas was 34 years old and had lived over here since the age of 18. He ran one of his father's businesses as an importer of all things Greek and from what checks Rangeman had carried out they couldn't find anything illegal going on there. His father seemed to be clean. However Andreas was alleged to have a penchant for cocaine, girls and guns and a number of known associates who ran some very illegal businesses of their own. There was a couple of police reports in the file and I recognised the name Joe Morelli on them. I was almost sure this was Steph's boyfriend. I wondered if he knew she had been working to lure this man away with her last night.

From the reports I could see that Belivanis had been accused of two counts of abduction and rape but no charges had been made as there was insufficient evidence. It appeared that both victims had conveniently disappeared. There was also notes on five other women who had vanished who had been linked to him. There was pictures of two women, both dead, who had been seen leaving with him from the club within the last four months. I tried not to look too hard at the pictures. I decided I now knew enough. After all, all I had to do was get him out of there and back to wherever it was he takes them. The Merry Men would be right behind me. It looked as if his homes and businesses were clean, so he must be taking them somewhere else to do whatever it was he does with them.

I put the file down and headed through to the bedroom for a nap. I tossed and turned a few times before deciding it wasn't going to happen. It was only just after three so I had a while to pass before I had to get ready. Ella was out for the afternoon and I wasn't sure how long Lester, Ranger and Tank would be away for. Not that I was going to look to them for company.

I decided I was going to brave the gym. I hadn't had any exercise since I arrived and I usually tried to work out at least three times a week. I needed my fix! Lester had mentioned that the best time to use the gym was mid morning or afternoon as the men usually used it either first thing in the morning, lunch time or early evening. I changed into my new shorts and sports bra and put on a pair of running shoes. I still felt a little too exposed to go out in public though. I think Ranger may consider me a distraction to his men dressed like this. I spied Lester's sweatshirt lying on the back of the couch so threw it on. It came to a good few inches above my knees and I had to roll the sleeves up but at least I was no longer indecent.

I grabbed two bottles of water and my Ipod, threw them in my bag and headed for the stairs. I thought there might be less chance encountering anyone that way. I ran down the stairs and quietly crept into the gym. It was empty. I peeked through to the pool but there was no one there either. I thought about checking the changing rooms but was scared what I might find there so left it alone. I was bound to meet someone eventually down here so would just have to deal with it.

I went for the running machine first. I had recently discovered that I love jogging and had missed the running. Unlike some people who like to use this time to think, I prefer just to zone out and not have to think at all. I can sometimes run for miles and end up home without even realising it. I switched on my Ipod and set the machine to a steady pace. Then I was off. I was a bit stiff to start with but soon found a steady rhythm. After a while I stopped for a drink of water. I checked my watch to see I had been running for over an hour. I felt great though, so I upped the pace a bit and went back to it. Eventually though I started to tire so decided to call it a day. I looked at the other machines and weights but couldn't work up any more enthusiasm so decided just to head back up to my apartment and have a long bath for tonight. I would also have to find something to eat. It would probably be a long night and an empty stomach wouldn't do me any favours.

I was just heading to the door when I spied the punch bag hanging from the ceiling. I had recently started taking kick boxing classes back home and found it a great way to take out my frustrations. It was also great on my legs. I had still only learned the basics but knew enough. I went over the bag and gave it a push to test its weight. I gave it a few kicks and it felt good. Suddenly a wave of anger came over me, talking about my past with Lester this morning had brought some memories I preferred to keep hidden, to the surface. I started kicking the bag with no real technique. If I had a pair of boxing gloves I would probably have been punching too. Instead I started pushing it and kicking out when it swung back. I had just given it one almighty push when I spotted the security camera in the corner just behind the bag. I stood shocked for a split second before the bag came back and hit me full force, winding me and knocking me to the ground. I felt a pain in my head, then nothing.

* * *

I slowly became aware of voices somewhere beside me. My head was pounding and I was lying flat on my back. I tried to open one eye then quickly shut it again. Someone was standing over me. I felt like such an idiot. How could I not remember Ella telling me there were camera's everywhere. Someone was calling my name. I was going to have to face this and swallow my pride. I just hoped Ranger or Lester hadn't been around to see my performance, although I was sure there would be a recording of it somewhere.

"Carla, you okay?" someone was asking me.

I slowly opened both eyes and looked up at a big black man who was crouching over me. He was all in black, well over 6 foot tall with a shaved head.

"Tank?" I asked trying to avoid the small torch that was being shined in my eyes.

Suddenly a bigger black man loomed over me. "You think this pip squeak is me?" Tank's boomed out.

I tried to focus again at the man standing over me, but he still looked like Tank. I must be dreaming. I must be lying unconscious and these were figments of my imagination.

Tank was still standing over the man crouched above me who was now trying to feel the back of my head so I swatted his hand away.

"Take it easy I'm just checking to see if you've hurt your head. You gave it some whack there" Tank junior said.

"Are you Tank's mini me?" I heard myself say. I think I must have dislodged the connection between my brain and my mouth.

Laugher boomed out all around me then and suddenly I was drowning in a sea of black and testosterone. I closed my eyes again and wished for them all to go away. Strong arms suddenly got me under both armpits and hauled me to my feet. I opened my eyes and came face to chest with Tank's 'mini me' who towered over me, but standing next to Tank he looked almost normal.

"Bobby Brown" he said grinning at me and offering me his hand. "Nice to finally meet you Carla, I've heard all about you".

I took his hand and gave him a weak smile. I still wasn't completely aware of my surroundings and someone still had their arms around me holding me up. Tank and Hal were standing grinning either side of Bobby. That would mean that it was probably Lester or Ranger standing supporting me from behind. I slowly turned my head to the side and looked up into Lester's big brown eyes. I closed my eyes and shook my head. More laughter rang out around me.

"You put on a good show there Sweetness" Lester laughed. "Glad we got back in time to see it".

"Let me go, I'm fine I said" trying to escape his arms. He loosened his hold and I felt my legs give way. He hoisted me up again.

"Lets gets her a seat" Bobby said. Lester changed his hold so he had one arm around my waist and I was suddenly aware of how little I was wearing. Lester's bare arm felt warm on my skin. I looked around for his sweatshirt, feeling exposed. Hal must have sensed my discomfort as he retrieved the sweatshirt from the floor beside the running machine and threw it to Lester. I grabbed it from him and put it on. We went through to the changing rooms and sat down on a bench. Bobby crouched down in front of me again.

"I just need to check for any concussion" he said shining the light in my eyes again. "I think your going to be fine. Is anything else hurting?" he asked.

"Just my pride" I said.

Bobby smiled at that. He had lovely brown eyes that had a cheeky twinkle to them. His skin was a couple of shades lighter than Tank's and, like the rest of the Merry Men he was well built with muscles in all the right places, and not an ounce of fat. He looked tired and needed a shave but still looked hot. I could see why someone like Sasha would be with him. They made a stunning couple.

"You need to try standing again, see if you still feel dizzy" Bobby said again.

I slowly stood up and the world began to spin so I grabbed Lester's shoulder as I rode it out. The alcohol last night probably wasn't helping my situation. I was probably dehydrated even though I had been trying to drink water all day.

"She had a lot of alcohol in her system last night" Lester told Bobby. I shot him a glare but he just grinned back at me. "She's only had a salad to eat today as well" he added.

I managed to stand on my own and took a few steps. "I'm fine now thanks. I'll go up and get something to eat then I'll be back to normal" I just wanted to get away from everyone and curl up and die in peace.

"Hal, phone Pino's, get the lady some dinner" Lester shouted to Hal who was already jumping into action. "I know for a fact she has no food in her apartment" he said to Bobby.

Just then Ranger entered the room looking serious. He stood looking at me for a long moment before speaking. "You okay Carla?" he asked.

"I'm fine thank you" I said knowing what was coming next. This ESP thing must be catching.

"Are you going to be up for tonight?" he asked. "If you need to pull out tell me now" he said unsmiling.

"I will be fine Ranger, I'm tougher than I might look right now" I smiled as if to prove it.

"I don't doubt that for a minute Carla" Ranger smiled back at me then disappeared out the door with Tank following behind.

"You sure you up to tonight?" Lester asked me again.

"I'll be fine" I shouted back feeling exasperated. "I'll go up, have a long bath, something to eat then I'll be fighting fit".

We started to head for the door then through to the elevator. Lester ran over and grabbed my bag for me. I glanced at my watch and saw that it was after 6pm!

"Fuck look at the time!" I shouted rushing ahead.

"You've got three hours to get ready" Lester said catching up.

"And your point is?" I said glaring at him.

Bobby and Lester just looked at each other and rolled their eyes. "I can see why she gets on so well with Steph and Sasha" Bobby laughed.

I rolled my eyes back at them.

**Hope you enjoyed that, thought Bobby deserved his own wee introduction since he is such a stud muffin. Please review and make us all happy!**


	13. Chapter 13

**Please if you are enjoying this story, leave a little review, even just a tiny one. It's difficult to keep writing if I don't know if anyone is liking it.**

**Usual disclaimed, Its Janets, not mine**

Chapter 15

I was standing in the bedroom towelling myself dry when I got a whiff of something tasty. I threw on a robe and wandered through to the lounge. Sitting on the kitchen counter was a pizza box and a can of diet coke. A small note was attached to the box saying 'Enjoy' signed by Hal. What was it with this place? Doesn't anybody respect each other's privacy? I managed a couple of slices but I was becoming nervous about this evening. I put the rest in the fridge and popped the can of soda. What I needed was something stronger!

I took myself back to the bedroom to get changed. I pulled out the halter neck top and couldn't help looking again at the beautiful corset Lester had bought me. He had also purchased the thong, suspender belt and thigh highs that matched. He obviously liked to accessorise! It seemed a shame that something so beautiful would be kept hidden, as I wasn't sure I would have the nerve to give Lester a private show of his new investments.

But wait a minute, he didn't actually specify a private modelling session. I got the shoes out of their box and held them up to the corset. They were almost a perfect match. If I was back home there was no way I would be considering what I had just decided to do. But tonight I wasn't being Carla Macrae, tonight I was being someone else entirely.

Before I could talk myself out of it I put on the thong, suspender belt and thigh highs, trying carefully not to tear them. I pulled the satin skirt on then, with great difficulty, managed to get the corset on. Although it laced up the back I had to fasten it using the hook and eye fastening at the front, or I would never have managed it on my own. As it was it took about ten minutes and two false starts to make sure all the fastenings met up in the right place. I went through to the bathroom to see how I looked. Because the skirt was high waisted with a slight 'V' shape to the waistline I pulled it up over the bottom of the corset. My breasts were pushed up high but didn't overflow the corset too much so I wasn't overly Dolly Parton. It was more sophisticated rather than slutty. The shoes, hair and make up would make it slutty though!

I added lots of mousse to my hair and dried it with my head upside down to give it lots of volume then ran some wax through the ends of my layers to give me that 'just out of bed' look. I did the smoky eye thing again but added an extra layer of eyeliner and mascara. I finished my face off with some sheer lipgloss with just a hint of a shimmer to emphasise my eyes. I could have added a deep colour to my lips but that would have screamed whore more than just plain slut! I slipped my new shoes on and finished the whole ensemble off with some Ravishing perfume. I wished again for a full length mirror but then I would maybe have seen sense and stuck to the original outfit had I seen the whole effect.

I wandered back through to the lounge area to grab a seat and a quick shot of Jack Daniels with the coke that was left. I had found a miniature bottle courtesy of my flight over in my make up bag. It wasn't much but it was enough to calm my nerves some. I crossed my legs and looked down at the split in the skirt showing the lacy top of the thigh highs and my pale, bare thigh . I would have to remember not to do that in the car on the way there or I would end up distracting the wrong men completely. I wondered what Lester would say about me modelling my new outfit to the whole of Rangeman and got a delicious shiver thinking about it. I finished the rest of the JD straight out the bottle and tried to focus on Belivanis rather than Lester!

It was nearly 9pm so I grabbed my file and a small black clutch bag with my phone and lip gloss and as an after thought a small black wrap I had luckily packed to cover my dignity, at least until we were at the club and I was ready to unleash my assets!

* * *

I stepped out the elevator onto the fourth floor and tried to hide my embarrassment as eight sets of eyes locked on to me. I held my head high and walked over to the group that were obviously discussing tactics or whatever it was they needed to discuss for tonight. They were all congregated around the front cubicle in various different outfits. Some where in the usual Rangeman outfits but others were dressed for a night on the town. Ranger was sitting behind the desk with Lester and Bobby taking up the two seats at the other side of the desk. Tank and Hal were standing with Binkie and Brett who I had only met briefly. There was one other man who I didn't recognise. He was very similar in build and stance as Hal, but his distinguishing feature was a flaming skull tattoo on his forehead! I wasn't sure I wanted to be introduced to him.

Lester moved out his seat and indicated for me to sit down. I shook my head though and stayed upright. There was no way I was going to let this lot see down my cleavage or up my skirt. Lester shrugged his shoulder and sat down turning back to Ranger. Everyone seemed in a very serious mood.

"Carla, glad you could join us" Ranger said swiftly checking me out. "I think you know everyone here apart from Cal who arrived back with Bobby last night, and you are now well acquainted with Bobby after your earlier . . . accident" he said with a slight smirk on his lips. Everyone else wasn't quite so discreet and there was laughter and chuckles all round.

"Nice to meet you Carla" Cal said trying to reach me and offer me his huge paw. I just gave him a small wave and tried to hide behind Hal who was standing beside me. That got more chuckles. I rolled my eyes and it was then that I noticed one of the monitors with my image on it. Someone had put my little 'accident' on a loop and it was playing over and over for everyone to see. I stood open mouthed in shock and turned to look at the men to see who the culprit was. Everyone looked back at me the picture of innocence.

"Right let's go" Ranger announced before I could kill anybody. "Cal, Hal, Binkie and Brett are in one car, Carla you are with Tank, Bobby, Lester and myself" Ranger stood and everyone else followed to the elevator. "Carla have you read your file?" he asked.

"Twice" I lied. Well I had almost read it once. But I had scrutinised the photos so I would know Belivanis on sight.

"Good" Ranger said. "Shit, Les can you get Carla's tracking device, I've left it on my desk". Wow who would have thought Ranger could be forgetful! Lester headed back to Ranger's office and the rest of them entered the elevator. I wasn't sure if I was supposed to wait for Lester or go with the others but there wasn't much space left in the elevator so I decided to wait. I realised that only Ranger, Bobby, Tank and Lester weren't dressed in the usual SWAT gear so assumed they would be in the club with me. The rest would be positioned at all the exits from the club and be ready to follow if, or when I leave with Belivanis.

Lester came back holding the necklace that Steph had been wearing last night.

"Is that the tracking device?" I asked dubiously. I was expecting something to be hidden in my underwear. I was relieved though as I had been wondering how I was going to get fitted out with a tracker.

"This is it" Lester replied. "The tracker is in the crystal. The chain is reinforced so shouldn't be at risk of breaking while you are dancing".

I reached out to take it from him but instead he walked right up to me and started pushing me towards the elevator. Once he had pressed the button to call it he put his arms around me and fastened the necklace for me. He was so close and smelled so good. Once fastened he used his fingers to straighten the chain out and then he moved my wrap aside and dropped the crystal down my front. It settled just above my cleavage. The elevator doors opened and again he pushed me through the doors. Once the doors shut he moved me over against the side.

"You might think you're clever wearing that tonight, but I still want a private viewing later" he breathed in my ear.

"You never said anything about it being a private show you wanted Santos" I whispered back looking up to meet his eyes. He looked so good dressed in black jeans and a dark grey tight fitting t shirt. I was trying to work out what designer logo was on his chest when he suddenly pulled back from me.

"You've been drinking again" he said angrily.

"Hardly" I said "Just a miniature from the plane."

"If Ranger finds out you've been drinking he'll put a stop to this. This is serious Carla, Belivanis is a nasty piece of work and he has the hots for you. You need to be completely aware of what is going on if he takes you somewhere". Lester shook his head at me and hit the hold button of the elevator. "Are you scared about tonight or something?" he asked in a more gentler tone.

"No I am not fucking scared" I shouted back at him. "I just wanted a wee drink. What's the big deal?"

"You just seem to need a drink a lot" he replied flatly.

"Oh please, you've only known me two minutes and you've decided I've got a drink problem" I shouted again. "So now I've told you something about my past you think I'm some kind of head case. Thank you very much" I stepped round him to hit the hold button again and we moved down the final floor. Lester dug into his pocket and handed me a packet of breath mints.

"You hoping to pull tonight?" I asked taking one. If this was Lester's reaction to me having a drink I didn't really want to see Ranger's.

"I had hopes" he said taking the packet back.

"Good luck with that then" I said storming out the elevator as the doors opened.

Ranger, Tank and Bobby were standing beside an SUV so I walked over to them and without saying a word opened the front passenger door and climbed in. The goons could sit in the back!

* * *

Half an hour later we were sitting in relative silence across the street from the club. Ranger had been hoping to get a definite sighting of Belivanis before we went in but his contact in the club had called to say he hadn't arrived yet. We were sitting watching the line of people going in and waiting for Sasha to arrive, who was being picked up by Ram. I was sitting pretending to read the file so I wouldn't have to speak to anybody. I was still angry at Lester for implying I had a drink problem. Okay so I did like a drink but only if I'm going out somewhere. I wouldn't just sit drinking on my own. I didn't like beer so spirits were my only option.

I realised Ranger was asking me a question. "Sorry, what was that" I asked looking up at him.

"I said do you have any questions about tonight? You've been sitting reading that file intently since we left" he said.

I thought for a minute. There was something that had been bothering me. "How quickly will you be able to follow me if you are still in the club after we leave?" I asked.

"Hal and the others go straight to their vehicle once they get the word from me that you are on you're way out. Ram will be sitting in this vehicle ready to pick us up once we leave. We will be right behind you and in contact at all times with Hal. Don't worry we won't lose you." he said soothingly

I took a deep breath and let out a big sigh. It was frustrating just sitting here when I could at least be dancing and pretending to have a good time. A black Porsche had pulled in across from us and I could see Ram and Sasha through the windows.

"You nervous?" Ranger asked.

"Restless, I could be in there dancing with Sasha instead of sitting here twiddling my thumbs" I answered.

"Watch you don't knock yourself out on the dancefloor Rocky" Bobby chuckled from the back seat.

"Oh ha ha funny one" I sniped back. "I'll have you know I am a very good dancer" I added.

"So I've heard" Bobby replied. I turned in my seat so I could get a better look at the back seat. "Sasha told me" me grinned.

"She's a fantastic dancer too" I said. She really was too. Sasha was tall but graceful.

"Hal said you were on that treadmill for ages this afternoon. You could maybe teach Steph a thing or two" Bobby said. That got a laugh from all the men in the car.

"If she ever comes to Edinburgh she could join my class" I said.

"You go to dance classes?" Bobby asked.

"I teach a dance class" I said looking at the surprise registering on Lester's face. Ha obviously that little snippet of information hadn't made it to my file.

"What do you teach?" Lester asked. It was the first time he had spoken since getting in the car.

"A little bit of everything" I said. "I took some classes a while back and really enjoyed them. I picked everything up quite quickly so they asked if I would be interested in volunteering to teach some kids. They all come from difficult backgrounds so it is a bit of escapism for them. Hip hop is the flavour of the month just now" I said sadly. I was missing some of the kids. I had become a surrogate aunt to some of them. I hoped they wouldn't think too badly of me for abandoning them.

"So you kick ass in more ways than one then" Bobby chuckled to himself.

"Okay so I need some more kick boxing classes, get over it already" I shouted back at him but smiled all the same. Bobby's enthusiasm for everything was infectious.

"You're a busy lady, with all your classes. Anything else you got up your sleeve? Tank asked. I thought he had fallen asleep.

"Not unless they got a pole somewhere in the club" I said absently.

"What would you do with a pole?" Lester asked sitting forward. I turned to see all men looking at me. Even Ranger looked curious.

"I'm taking pole dancing lessons" I answered. They all fell silent digesting this information. God only knows what images were flashing through their minds.

"As a form of fitness" I added in case they were getting the wrong idea.

A few moments passed before Bobby broke the silence "Hey Ranger, you think we could get a pole installed in the gym?" he asked.

"What do you think Carla?" Ranger asked me grinning in the dark. "You think you could teach my men how to pole dance?"

"You would have to get it reinforced but I'm sure we could have Bobby sliding up and down that pole in no time" I replied.

Just then Ranger's cell phone rang. He said a few words then hung up. "Sasha is getting bored she wants to get in the club" he said. "She has some friends in there so it would be good for the girls to be part of a bigger crowd. We go in now".

We all got out the car and I finally plucked up the courage to remove my wrap. I felt chilly but I think it was more due to nerves that the cold. I grabbed my bag and quickly walked over to Sasha who was out the car and raring to go. I didn't want to see anyone's reaction to my outfit but I did catch Ram's wide eyed expression as he got out the car. Sasha grabbed me and gave me a huge hug.

"You look amazing girl" she said linking my arm. "Lets go meet my friends". It was decided tonight that we wait in line with the rest of the queue. Being a Sunday night it wasn't as busy as it had been last night. Ranger and Tank were going in the back way but Bobby and Lester were somewhere in the queue behind us. Sasha had passes so we wouldn't have to pay at the door.

Sasha looked stunning again. Tonight she was wearing black wet look leggings with a tightfitting red halter neck top. Again she had 4 inch heels on so was half a head taller than me in my heels. She kept hold of my arm and we chatted amicably until we were in the club.

Once in she headed to a table just next to the dance floor where four other stunning beauties sat. I felt like the ugly duckling again. She introduced me to everyone and then went off to get us drinks. The girls at the table were all drinking pitchers of cocktails but I just asked for a coke. I wasn't going to disappoint anyone else tonight. I looked around to get my bearings. Lester and Bobby were standing leaning against the railings at the other side of the dancefloor. They had already attracted some female company. I felt a stab of jealousy and glared at Lester. He just raised his beer to me and grinned. So it was okay for him to drink then!

I spied Tank standing at the bar talking to one of the bar staff. The bar man looked suspiciously like a Merry Man. That wouldn't surprise me though. They were maybe making sure I couldn't get any alcohol even if I wanted some.

I looked around but couldn't see any sign of Ranger. I knew he would be around somewhere though, taking everything in.

Sasha came back with the drinks but before I could take a sip she grabbed my arm and pulled me on the dancefloor. She had told me earlier that it was an English DJ on tonight so I was hoping for more songs I would recognise. We moved into the middle of the dancefloor and I looked up to see Ranger standing arms resting on the railings of the viewing platform above. He was slowly drinking a bottle of beer and he gave me a almost unperceivable nod of his head. I turned my back on him to find Bobby and Lester dancing with a couple of big boobed blonds. I looked at Sasha but she didn't seem to bother. She just shrugged her shoulders at me and laughed.

We danced to a few more songs before sitting down for a drink. Sasha sat and talked while I looked around looking for my target. There was no sign of him so far. Lester was back standing with Bobby at the table they had but still had a blonde hanging off him. I was feeling incredibly jealous again. And a big bit pissed off.

"Why don't you go ask Lester to dance?" Sasha asked. "Get rid of that blonde bimbo for him" she added.

"He looks perfectly happy to me" I commented.

"Well he keeps looking over at you so I don't think he's that interested" Sasha said to me. "Why don't you go ask Bobby to dance then? He seems to have lost his blonde limpet".

"You wouldn't mind?" I asked her.

"Hey honey, I know my Bobby only has eyes for me, knock yourself out" she said smiling at me before turning back to her friends.

I got up and moved around the dancefloor to stand just a few feet away from Bobby, Lester and Barbie. Bobby saw me approaching and gave me a wink. I smiled back but stopped and looked over the dancefloor again to see if Belivanis was around. The club wasn't as jam packed as before so I got a good look from here at most of the dancefloor and the bar behind. I was looking at all the faces standing at the other side of the room when someone grabbed my attention.

A tall, dark haired man was standing leaning on the railings at the other side, just beside the steps leading down to the dancefloor. He was wearing dark jeans, t shirt and a black leather jacket. He must have been about 6ft and looked lean and muscular, although not to Rangeman standard, but he was still fit. He looked mean but there was also something intriguing about him. He was watching everyone in the club just as intently as I was, and I could see that he was looking in Lester and Bobby's direction with a curious look on his face.

I turned to my left to where Bobby and Lester were to see Lester looking right at me, a dark expression on his face. He must have seen me looking at the guy who was watching them and he didn't seem happy. Perfect! I walked the few steps to the opening leading down to the dancefloor when Lester stepped out to intercept me, leaving his blonde standing, mouth hanging open.

"Where you going Sweetness?" he said in my ear.

"I'm going to dance" I replied standing on tip toes to shout in his ear.

"On your own?" Lester asked.

"No I was going to ask someone to join me" I said.

"Anyone in mind?" he asked slinging an arm loosely around my shoulders.

"I have seen someone, yes" I said trying to disengage his arm.

"Hope it's not that Italian Stallion over there?" he said harshly

"What's it to you?" I asked looking up at him.

"Stay away from him, he's bad news" he said trying to get his arm around my shoulders again.

"Fuck you Santos" I said spinning away from him and walking determinedly across the floor.

I was half way across the floor when strong arms grabbed me around the waist and pulled me back. I was brought back hard against a hard, muscular body.

"We can fuck later babe" Lester said in my ear. "But right now you need to stay away from that guy".

I looked around to see if anyone saw this little exchange but no one seemed to notice. To the outsider it would appear as if we were a couple dancing. The 'Italian Stallion' certainly hadn't noticed. He was still scanning faces across the room. Just then the song changed and the pace slowed down. Jay Z and Rihanna's 'Run This Town' came on and Lester started moving me to the music. The heat from his body was intoxicating and I was no longer concentrating on anything but his arms wrapped around my body and his hot breath on my neck.

We were slowly swaying to the music and I could feel him getting hard behind me, the pressure digging into my back. Although that could maybe have been his gun! I shimmied down his groin slightly and he left out a slight groan into my hair. Nope not his gun then!

He spun me round quickly to face him and I put my arms around his neck steady myself. He moved his hands slowly down to rest on my hips and took control of the dance. He was a great dancer. I couldn't take my eyes of his and I had completely forgotten my reason for being here. Everything else was a blur. His eyes were dark and one of his hands was slowly caressing my back. He moved so his right leg went between mine and the pressure on my groin made me release a groan of my own. Suddenly he moved away from me as Bobby appeared behind him.

"Boss wants to see you" he shouted over the music to Lester.

Lester gave me one last look then disappeared up the steps off the dance floor. I finished dancing to the rest of the song with Bobby, although in a much less friendly way than with Lester, before Bobby was whisked away by another blonde. I turned to find Tank towering above me.

"Ranger wants a word Carla, he's up there" he indicated a movement of his head.

I went off to find the stairs that led up to the viewing platform and passed Lester on his way down. He gave me a small wink but didn't say anything, but he didn't look unhappy so Ranger couldn't have been that pissed with him.

I found Ranger sitting on a tall stool overlooking the floor below. He didn't look happy.

"Any sign of Belivanis yet?" He asked.

"You know there isn't" I replied.

"Lester says you have taken a shine to someone down there. You should listen to him and stay away" he warned.

"I haven't taken a shine to anyone" I said. "I was just looking for someone to dance with to pass the time".

"Stay away from that guy then" Ranger said indicating the Italian Stallion below. "I won't ask you again Carla, you speak to him and this whole things ruined".

"What's the deal with him anyway?" I asked.

"He's a cop, if he get's wind of this there will be police everywhere and our task tonight will be a failure. He's onto Belivanis too, but it looks like he's working alone on this one. He doesn't need to know what we are up to" he finished looking intently at me.

I looked back at him and down to the cop guy downstairs. Something clicked somewhere in my head then. "That guy's Joe Morelli isn't it?" I asked.

"You've heard of him?" Ranger asked surprised.

"Well yeah his names on the police reports you gave me" Ranger nodded, understanding in his eyes "and he's Steph's boyfriend" I added watching his reaction. He looked like he had just eaten something bad.

"Just stay out his way. Ask Bobby or Tank if you need someone to dance with" he said.

"Not Lester?" I asked innocently.

"Maybe not Lester, you seem to be distracting him too much" he replied.

"It's all an act you know" I said moving closer to him.

"What?" he said, looking a bit taken aback.

"This" I said moving my hands up his thighs, then parting them to move myself in between them. I moved into him and whispered in he ear "This whole slut thing I'm supposed to be doing to attract the bad guy. This is what I'm supposed to be doing." I looked at him and for a very brief second his eyes darkened and Ranger looked turned on. But only for the briefest second.

"What the fuck are you doing Carla" he asked as I pulled back from him.

"I'm doing exactly what you asked me to do Ranger. And if I can get that kind of reaction from you, then I can get Belivanis out of here for you. But just leave me to it".

"Okay Carla" Ranger said after looking at me for a long moment "you can do whatever you want, with whoever you want" he added looking in Lester's direction. "But stay away from Morelli" he finished.

I smiled sweetly and moved away from him. I went down the stairs and winked at Lester as I passed. I walked right around the side of the dancefloor and over to the bar, passing Morelli as I went. He was still oblivious to me. I could see why Steph had problems with her men now. Morelli was even more gorgeous up close. But I was going to be a good girl and stay away from him. I wasn't interested now that I knew he was taken. If I was honest with myself I was only really interested in him to make Lester jealous.

I walked up to the bar and ordered a JD and coke. I would have just the one, to steady my nerves. The bar man looked a bit unsure and went over to speak to his colleague, the one who had been talking to Tank earlier. The other man nodded and came over to me.

"Just a coke for you Precious" he said with a smile. He was tanned, blond and big and I knew instantly that he worked for Rangeman.

"Which one are you then?" I asked

"Zero, nice to meet you Carla" he said handing me my glass of coke. "This one's on the house" he grinned.

I smiled a thanks and turned back to scan the room for Belivanis. There was still so sign of him. I was standing only a few feet behind Morelli and looking up at Ranger I could see he wasn't impressed. Tank was standing not far from me and he was shooting me warning looks as well. I looked for Lester and Bobby. Bobby was standing chatting to Sasha and her friends, and Lester was dancing with the blonde. I tried to get my jealousy under control. After all we hardly knew each other, we had just been flirting back and forth. Although I did find him easy to talk to and had told him stuff I hadn't spoken to anyone else about. Finally the green eyed monster won and I went storming towards the dancefloor. I put my glass down on a table beside the steps and as I moved forward I banged into someone. I turned to apologise and realised I had just collided with Joe Morelli.

I turned away from him and headed for Sasha who was getting up to dance to the song that had just come on, 'Sexy Chick' by David Guetta and Akon. She grabbed my hands and spun me round. I now had Joe Morelli's full attention, as well as Tank and Bobby's too. I looked up and Ranger was glaring down at me. He obviously thought I had bumped into the cop on purpose. I spun around again to look for Lester. He was no longer dancing and had moved over to where Bobby was standing at the table we were occupying. I had all these gorgeous men watching me but instead of feeling shy or embarrassed, I felt invigorated.

The chorus kicked in and I was dancing with Sasha and her friends with arms in the air. It was such a sexy song to dance to and our hips were swaying to the music. I became aware that someone was moving to the music behind me and felt a hand rest on my hips. I looked at Sasha but she raised her eyebrows and turned away from me. I turned around to face my fellow dancer and came face to face with a pair of bright green eyes, and the wicked smile of Andreas Belivanis.


	14. Chapter 14

**Usual disclaimer. Not a happy chapter this one. Please review and let me know what you think.**

Chapter 16

Belivanis held his hand out to me, as if asking permission to dance. I had rudely turned my back on him the last time, he was trying a more polite approach this time. I turned back to look for Sasha but she had returned to our table and was talking to Bobby. Lester was pretending not to look, but I could tell my every move was being watched now. I sneaked a peak up to the heavens but Ranger was no longer at his station. I turned back to Belivanis with a smile and took his hand.

He pulled me to him and placed his hands lightly on my hips then started to grind me to the music. I put my hands on his shoulders but didn't wrap myself around him as I had with Lester. Belivanis was just over 6ft but in my heels I was his equal, if not an inch taller. He had broad shoulders but felt quite soft, in fact he had a bit of a paunch, but then he was just a typical Greek male. He wasn't a great dancer, preferring the method of just swaying to the music and banging his hips at me. I was glad when the song was over.

"Would you like a drink?" he asked me slipping his arm around my waist and leading me from the floor towards the bar.

"Thank you, I'd like that" I said smiling sweetly. I was going to ask for a coke but he ordered two Jack Daniels passing one to me.

"I noticed this was your drink of choice last night" he said. "You seem much more demure tonight" he said rubbing his hand up my arm.

"Give me time" I said moving my leg against his and trying to fight a wave of nausea. This job would have been much easier if he was hot like Lester or Ranger, but he wasn't. He wasn't completely pug ugly but the fact that I knew what he was capable of, and the faint smell of body odour emanating from him, was making it difficult to use my charms on him.

I knocked my JD back in one and gave him, what I hoped was a stunning smile. But to me if felt like a grimace. It obviously worked as he moved his hand from my arm down to rest on my backside. He ordered me another JD.

"Can I have some diet coke with it this time" I asked Zero who was serving us. The straight JD was burning the back of my throat and I was hoping that Zero would take the hint and not give me any alcohol this time. I needed a straight head now. I took a sip of my drink and smiled at Zero. It was just plain coke.

"You are not from around here are you?" Belivanis asked with a thick Greek accent.

"No I'm just visiting from Scotland" I said. This was something I hadn't really thought about, coming up with a cover story. I was surprised Ranger hadn't either. I decided the best course of action was to rub myself against him and excuse myself to the ladies room. He gave my backside a squeeze.

"I'm just going over to get my bag" I told him indicating the table I was sitting at. "I'll be right back". I headed around the dancfloor and down to our table. I found my bag which was under the seat Lester was sitting on. I bent down to grab the bag and Lester bent down at the same time, pretending to help.

"You're doing great Gorgeous" he whispered and quickly gave my hand a squeeze. I stood up without making eye contact. If I looked at him I wouldn't want to leave him. I turned away and gave Sasha a brief hug and waved at the other girls. They had no idea what was happening, they just thought I had pulled and was off to sit with my new date. Bobby gave me a wink but held a serious expression on his face.

I walked back round in the direction of the bar but took a left over to the bathrooms. Tank was standing just outside the gents bathroom and gave me the tiniest of nods. I went to the ladies and did what I had to do, and gave myself another layer of mascara and lip gloss for courage. How make up can make you feel brave I'll never know.

Sasha came in just as I was about to leave. "Ranger wants you to suggest going back to his place as quickly as possible, to get this over and done with. He's says you're doing great and to hang on in there" she gave me another hug then headed to a cubicle.

I swallowed back my nerves and headed back out to the bar. I wasn't feeling scared, but I was feeling a but apprehensive about the journey to his 'place'. He was far too touchy feely as it was, I was just hoping he was going to be too busy driving to let his hands wander. Unless of course we were going to get a cab. I would soon find out though.

I had just exited the bathroom door when an arm grabbed me and pulled me to the side. I was expecting Tank or Ranger so was shocked when I looked into the chocolate brown eyes of Joe Morelli.

"A word of warning honey" he said voice low. "Don't go anywhere with that guy, it won't be good for you".

"Mind your own business" I said turning my back on him.

He grabbed me back towards him. Where the bathrooms were situated I couldn't see the dancefloor and Tank was no longer outside the gents. I knew Sasha wouldn't be long and if Morelli didn't let me go Sasha would go back and tell Bobby and they would be all over us.

"Listen, you're obviously not from around here. I don't know how you know Santos and Brown, but believe me you're better sticking with them rather that the asshole you just picked up" he let go of my arm but moved to stand in front of me so I couldn't get back to the bar. I took a step to the side but he sidestepped as well.

"I don't know a Santos and Brown" I said "But if you are talking about the guys who have made themselves at home at my table, they're not my type" I said glaring at him.

"You sure looked comfortable dancing with Santos earlier. Or maybe you should go back upstairs and try it on with his friend again". This guy hadn't missed much. I hadn't realised he had noticed me at all now it seemed he knew my every move. I didn't think he knew exactly what I was up to, but it probably wouldn't take him long.

"He wasn't my type either" I said trying to step past him again.

"Maybe I'm more you're type then". Suddenly Morelli wrapped his arms around me and pulled me to him, while pushing me over towards the fire exit doors.

"What the fuck do you think you are doing" I shouted at him. I could see Zero at the bar talking on a cell phone. The shit was going to hit the fan any second now.

"It's for your own good, just trust me" he whispered in my ear.

I could see Lester and Bobby heading towards us, thunderous looks on their faces, but they held back when Belivanis appeared. Sasha came out the ladies room just as Tank rounded the corner and ushered her away from the scene.

"Let me go Morelli" I said quietly. "You are going to screw everything up". He let me go and looked at me in shock. He was just about to speak when Belivanis caught up with us and grabbed Morelli's shoulder roughly spinning him round to face him.

"You wanna tell me what the fuck you are doing with my womanl" he said, then recognition hit him as he looked at Morelli.

"You're a cop!" he shouted looking back and forward at Morelli and me. I was going to have to do something in case he thought I was in with Morelli on something.

"A cop" I shouted "You should know fucking better then, grabbing a lady like that" I grabbed Morelli and pushed him away from Belivanis so I was standing in between the two. I looked at Morelli and mouthed 'I'm sorry Joe' before I kneed him in the balls. He wore a look of complete shock, before his face went bright red and he doubled over. I quickly grabbed Belivanis and swept him away back towards the bar.

"How about we head back to yours?" I purred in his ear. "It's getting a bit claustrophobic in here tonight!"

"Sure thing darling" he said sticking his hand up the back of my corset.

I glanced back over my shoulder as we left. Bobby, Tank and Lester weren't far behind me, and they were all grinning. What the fuck! How was this situation funny?

* * *

We exited out onto the street where a stretch limo was waiting. Great, I would be sitting in the back with him. He must have called ahead to his driver as he was parked in a no parking zone so couldn't have been sitting there all night. I looked across the street and could see Ram sitting behind the wheel of the SUV. I couldn't see where the others were. Belivanis stepped in front to open the door for me, then climbed in behind me. I had hardly sat down before he was on me, trying to stick his tongue down my throat.

"Hey tiger" I said pulling away. "We've got plenty of time, what's the rush?"

"You're right" he said pulling a bottle of champagne from an ice bucket and pouring me a glass. He handed me the glass and rubbed my leg up and down.

"So is your friend okay with you leaving with me tonight?" he asked.

"Oh I only just met her here last night" I said. "I'm staying with another friend but she couldn't make it tonight".

"So what time is she expecting you home?" he said trying to work his hand up under my skirt.

"When I get home" I said.

Belivanis sat up suddenly and moved over to speak to his driver through the window. I quickly poured my champagne into the ice bucket. I wasn't a big fan of champagne but it always got me really drunk. He came back and tried to nuzzle my neck. I tried to act if I was enjoying myself. If I tried to fight him off he would either throw me out the car and ruin everything, or he was going to get rough. I think it was more likely to be the second option.

His hand was well up my skirt now and he was sucking on my neck. I tried to moved round so I was facing him and get his hand back down but he pinned me back in my seat. His hand was now moving round to the front, trying to get a finger in my panties. This was too much. This I hadn't be warned about and I'm sure Ranger couldn't have expected me to go along with this. But what else could I do now?

I tried to push his hand away but he grabbed my arm and put my hand to his crotch, where he was rock hard. If he thought I was going to rub his dick he had another think coming! I moved my hand up to his chest instead. His hands were now both working on the fastening of my corset while his mouth was working its way down my shoulder. I felt a stab of pain and realised he had bitten the top of my arm.

"Hey" I shouted. "Take it easy". I tried to push him off again but he just laughed.

"Playing hard to get darling" he said as he practically straddled me. He was getting frustrated with the hook and eyes fastenings and was beginning to rip them off instead.

"Look can we just wait till we get to your place" I said trying to reason with him. "I just bought this I don't want it ruined already". I swallowed down the bile that was rising in my throat and gave his crotch a quick rub. He let out a small groan and sat back in his seat.

"We are almost there" he said with a hint of anger now. He shouted in Greek to his driver as we sped around a corner. I knew a little Greek from holidays on the Greek Islands but the only word I recognised for sure was 'bitch'. Okay so most of the words I had learned was the sweary ones!

We suddenly drew to a stop and I expected the car to be bombarded with Merry Men. But there was nothing. Belivanis opened the door and climbed out. I tried to open my door but it was locked, so I had no choice but to follow him out. He grabbed me round the waist and gripped me tightly, as if sensing that I would try to escape. I looked around but there was no sign of any SUV's following. Where the hell were they? Looking around I could see we were in some kind of industrial estate. Belivanis pulled me towards a small decrepit looking warehouse, while his driver sped off.

"I thought we were going to your place" I asked nervously.

"This is where I take all my whores" he replied tersely.

"I'm not a fucking whore" I shouted back angrily.

"Oh come on you haven't even asked me my name, and I don't know yours. Please don't tell me you were planning on starting a meaningful relationship. This is such sex and you know it bitch". he spat back at me.

I tried to get free from him but suddenly all my energy seemed to have gone and my legs were feeling heavy. I was struggling to keep my eyes open too. Belivanis just laughed at my plight.

"That champagne is working then?". Had he drugged me? At least I had only had a few sips. God only knows how out of it I would be if I had drank the whole glass. I realised he hadn't taken a glass. The whole bottle must have been drugged. I shuddered thinking what happened to the girls he took here. They wouldn't have known anything about it.

He walked me quickly over to the entrance to the warehouse shoved me inside. It was dark and I couldn't make out anything. We went up a flight of stairs and through a door into a long corridor. He pushed me into a room and he down onto a shabby couch. The room was like a living room, with a couch diagonally along one wall and armchair opposite. There was a television and a small side table to the side of the couch with a lamp and an empty ash tray. The room was long and the other end narrowed. A table and four chairs sat at the other end of the room. If you didn't know you were in a warehouse you would think this was someone's home.

I tried to gather my strength and moved to the corner of the couch. Surely Ranger and his men would be here now. It was obvious this was his final destination. My hand went to crystal pendant and I felt the first tendrils of fear clench my insides when I realised it wasn't there. It must have fallen off somewhere when I was struggling with Belivanis. I hoped to God it was in the warehouse.

Belivanis came over and sat beside me. He started to rub his hand up and down my thigh again. He must have realised the drug hadn't worked to its full effect yet, he was maybe biding his time. He gradually worked his hand up higher to my breasts and tried to slip his hand under the tight fitting corset. Again he tried to work the fastenings and managed to undo a few so his hand could in. He tweaked a nipple and I thought I was going to throw up. I tried to lift my arm to fend him off but just didn't have the strength.

"Just go with it, enjoy it" he breathed as he started kissing my neck again. He left my breast and roughly pulled my skirt up, ripping the split even higher. His calloused hand caught my thigh highs and I could feel the sheer material start to rip. He got his fingers in under the thin material of my panties and I screamed out. This was all going so wrong. How could this be happening? I looked around for a way out of this and my eyes rested on the heavy crystal ashtray. If I just had the strength to pick it up. It was within easy hand reach. Belivanis removed his fingers but started to roughly rip at the thigh highs with one hand, and pull at my corset with the other. He bit down again on my shoulder and I finally found some ounce of strength from within. I picked up the ashtray and brought it down as hard as I could on the back of his head. He yelled in pain and fell to his knees on the floor, where he lay without moving.

I managed to get myself on to my feet but didn't think I would be able to stand for long. I had to get out of the room away from him and hopefully find the Rangemen, or anyone who could help me.

Suddenly Belivanis stood up, holding the back of his head. He pulled he hand away and looked at the blood on his fingers.

"You bitch" he screamed and he lunged for me. He slapped me hard across the face and I could feel my lip burst against my teeth. I managed to get a kick to his crotch before he punched me to the side of the face, my right cheek felt on fire and I felt myself falling. He started kicking me in the stomach so I tried to get into a ball but I was seeing stars now and I was fighting to stay conscious. He yanked my head back by my hair and slapped me again.

He had lost control, and I had lost all hope.

**What has happened to Ranger and his Merry Men. Will they get there in time to save Carla. Will get back to you as quick as I can. Reviews make me work faster!!**


	15. Chapter 15

**Just for the record, I'm not sure if there is a drug that would have the following affect on Carla, but I sure there will be some nasty one out there.**

**Usual disclaimer applies.**

Chapter 17

I could see everything that was going on, I could hear everything that was going on, and I could certainly feel everything that was going on too. But I couldn't move, and I couldn't speak. Somehow the walking, talking part of my brain was switched off, but I was still all too aware of what was happening to me.

Belivanis was kneeling in front of me pulling my skirt up. This was no easy task as the skirt was so tight fitting. He was clawing at my legs and I could feel the pain as he scratched my skin raw. My head was pounding and my lip stinging. My stomach felt on fire and when I breathed it was agonizing. I'm sure he had broken or at least cracked a rib when he kicked me. I was sitting on the floor leaning against an armchair. Belivanis pulled my legs so that I slid down lying flat on my back. Once again he tried to get my skirt up, this time by ripping the rest of the split up to the waistband. He reached for his belt buckle and I prayed for the first time in my life. I closed my eyes to block out the sight of what was about to happen, as this was the only part of my body that I had any control over.

I waited, breath held, for the inevitable, when suddenly I heard a yell, followed by a crashing sound. I opened my eyes to find Ranger standing over me. He knelt down beside me and carefully pulled me to an upright position.

"I'm so sorry Carla" he said gently. Then he got up and walked over to where Belivanis was lying, he must have been thrown across the room and was now lying among the table and chairs at the other end. Ranger looked down at him, then gave him a swift kick in the genitals.

Then Bobby and Lester were in the room. Bobby looked at me, then to Belivanis, then went to help Ranger get some cuffs on Belivanis. Not that he needed any restraining. Bobby somehow managed to get a kick to the head in. Belivanis was not looking good.

Lester came over to me and crouched down beside me. "Fuck Carla, what did the bastard do to you?" he asked concern written all over his face. "Carla" he said gently shaking me. I couldn't answer, I could only move my eyes to meet his. I couldn't pull my skirt down, or try to fix my corset. I felt so exposed and vulnerable, but at least now I was safe. But the emotion that was so overwhelming me was anger. Where the fuck had they been?

Lester was still shaking me and calling my name when Bobby came over and knelt down beside me. He gently took my face and looked into my eyes. "She's been drugged Les, she can't move, but she can hear us" he said. "Blink Carla, you're okay now".

I blinked at him. What I wanted to do was punch him in the face for leaving me for so long.

Ranger had just got Belivanis to his feet when Lester lunged at him. He punched Belivanis, who fell to the ground, then he started kicking him to the face and torso. Ranger tried to pull him off but it was Tank who managed to restrain Lester in the end. He had just appeared in the doorway with Hal. They both looked down at me with a mixture of pity and shame. I wanted to shoot them both.

"We've found some girls in another room Ranger" Tank said once Lester had calmed down enough to let him go. He came back to sit with me. "We're gonna have to get the cops involved now".

"Get this bastard downstairs" Ranger ordered. "Les, you stay with Carla till I give you the all clear to move out". Get me out now, I don't want wait for any fucking all clear. Look at the state of me?

Everyone left the room, roughly dragging Belivanis with them. Lester gently picked me up and carried me over to the couch. I thought he was going to lay me down but he sat down and sat me on his lap, my head resting against his chest, my legs stretched out across his thighs onto the couch. I noticed one of the heels was broken on my new shoes. I couldn't remember that happening. My thighs were bleeding where I had been scratched and my thigh highs were history.

I could hear Lester's heart beating. It was going too fast. I felt so small lying there against his muscular chest. At 5 foot 9 inches I haven't felt small for a very long time. I felt so safe and warm lying there I could have stayed there forever.

Lester tried to pull my skirt down as well as he could but it was pointless as it was so ripped. He gently hugged me to his chest and tenderly stroked my hair from my face. I was doing my best to stay angry at him but was failing fast. Not that he would know how I was feeling, I still couldn't communicate anything.

He gently lifted my face up towards his own "Can you hear me Carla?" he asked.

I blinked in response. He laid my head back down onto his chest and resumed stroking my hair. It felt so good, and I just wanted to sleep. But what did he want me to hear?

"We were right behind you, all the way, when he pulled into this industrial yard. We know it well, and cos it's so small we knew he would see us if we followed right in, so we held back for a minute. We were just going to head in when the limo came tearing back out the gate. We thought he had made us, so Ranger followed the car, and ordered the other team to search the yard, in case they had dumped you". Lester swallowed hard then continued.

"We caught up with the driver, but only found your tracker, the chain completely snapped. Ranger called Hal and ordered them to start searching the buildings, while we persuaded the driver to take us back to where he had left you. It didn't take that much persuasion, once we introduced him to Tank. It could only have taken seven or eight minutes from when you entered the yard, and look at what he's done to you".

I wanted to tell him it had started in the back of the limo, but of course I couldn't. And I was losing my anger every second he spoke. I was still furious, but not quite as apoplectic as I was minutes ago.

Lester didn't say anything else, just held me. I was just drifting off when the sound of gun fire rang out from outside the room. Lester carefully laid me on the couch and jumped up to investigate, gun drawn. He came back quickly and lifted me up.

"I'm gonna have to go help the guys, but I'm not taking you with me. I'm going to put you down here, but I'll be right back for you, I promise" he said looking me in the eye. He had walked round to the back of the couch and laid me down gently on the floor, I assumed so that any more bad guys coming into the room wouldn't instantly find me. Who the hell was shooting? Was there more bad guys out there? Lester looked at me for a few seconds before leaning down and planting a kiss on my cheek, then he was gone.

* * *

I don't know how long I had been lying there, it could have been minutes or hours. I think I might have fallen asleep. I could hear people moving around but no one had come back for me. I tried to move but still couldn't. I tried to shout but still had no voice. Where was Lester? He promised to come back for me. I was cold, but had no way of warming myself up. I was also dying of thirst.

I heard footsteps, then voices in the room. I tried to call out but of course I couldn't. I wasn't sure of the voices but one of the them could have been Zero. But I couldn't be sure I had spoken to him so briefly.

"Les said she was in here" the voice said. I am in here, I'm down here I screamed in my head. Why wasn't Lester coming for me himself. Had he been hurt, or worse? Why don't you idiots look around some more?

The footsteps and voices disappeared and I lay there for another indeterminate length of time before I heard more footsteps in the room. This time they were coming over towards me. A shadow cross over the lamp on the side table and strong arms pulled me up and lay me back on the couch. I looked up to see me rescuer. It was Joe Morelli!

He looked at me with concern as his eyes scanned my body. He took off his leather jacket and covered me with it. "You must be Carla?" he said gently. "That's a good right knee you have there, I hope Steph doesn't decide she wants babies any time soon" he laughed. He had a nice laugh, and a friendly smile. He had a faint scar on his right eye which made his eyelid droop ever so slightly. It all added to his rugged good looks though.

I managed to smile at him. Hey I could move something else. The drug must be wearing off. I still couldn't understand why he was here, and Lester wasn't.

"Lets get you out of here." He took his leather jacket off of me and helped me to get my arms in, before zipping me up. He then gathered me in his arms and lifted me up. I didn't think he would be able to take my weight, he wasn't as big as the Merry Men. But he seemed to manage just fine. He carried me out the room and down the stairs. There was no sign of any Rangemen but there was a few uniformed officers around and police tape everywhere. We went outside and I was blinded by blue flashing lights. I moved my head into Joe's chest. Yes another part of my body of co-operating.

Joe took me over to a jeep and placed me carefully in the passenger side. He ran around to the driver side then leant over to belt me in. He reclined the seat slightly and rested my head on the head rest so I could get comfortable. Then he started the engine and headed away from the mayhem.

"Lets get you to hospital" he said.

"No!" I croaked, surprising myself. Thank God my voice had finally returned.

"What?" Joe said looking at me "You need treatment, you've obviously been drugged, and you have other injuries" he looked worried. He probably thought I had been raped with the state I was in.

"Bobby" was all I managed to say.

Joe looked round at me, taking his eyes of the road for a long moment. "You want to go back to Rangeman?"

I nodded my head. I didn't want to go anywhere near a hospital. I hated hospitals.

Joe looked like he was wrestling with his decision. "Are you sure Bobby can help you?" he asked finally.

I nodded my head again. I wasn't completely sure but he seemed to be the one with the medical knowledge at Rangeman. He had been a medic in the army I was told. I had so many question I wanted to ask Joe, but my throat was sore and my mouth felt like sandpaper.

"Water" I managed to croak. Joe rummaged around under his seat and came out with a half empty bottle of water. He pulled over and opened the bottle. I tried to take it from him but my arms still weren't co-operating. Joe held the bottle to my mouth and helped me drink. I finished the bottle and felt much better.

"Thanks" I said my voice sounding more normal. Joe started up the engine and we were on our way again.

"How did you know my name?" I asked. I wanted to know everything. Like where was Lester?

"I spoke briefly to Manoso after they called us in. I had followed them from the club anyway after realising what they were up to. He told me your name and that you were working for him. He said you knew Steph, my girlfriend".

I nodded. "I met her last night, or actually I met her yesterday, we went shopping".

"Go back a second, you were with her last night? Where?" Joe asked slowing the jeep down to a crawl.

"At the Club Ice Blue" I answered.

"What where you doing there last night?" he asked slamming on the brakes.

I looked at him. He looked really angry. I don't think I had to tell him why we were there last night. He wasn't stupid.

"You're telling me that Steph was supposed to get Belivanis last night?" he shouted.

"It didn't happen last night though. You'll be glad she couldn't make it tonight then." I said. I wasn't bitter that it had been me and not Steph. I think she might have drank the whole glass of champagne then things would have turned out a whole lot worse for her.

"Neither of you should have been asked to do that. Have you done anything like that before?"

I laughed and shook my head. "I work in retail, this is a whole new experience for me". Not one that I wanted to repeat.

"What happened to Lester?" I asked him, wanting to change the subject.

Joe started the car up yet again and we moved off. "He's been shot, but he's okay" he added quickly. "He was wearing a vest so there's just some bruising, but Bobby wanted to take him to hospital to get checked out" he looked over towards me. "I heard him asking one of the goons to go back in for you, how the hell they missed you I'll never know".

I looked out the window trying not to think about what could have been. The drug would have worn off eventually and I would have been able to walk out of there. But where would I have gone. Surely someone would have come back in if Joe hadn't found me when he did. That was just another thing to add to my list of complaints I would have for Ranger.

"How did he get shot? What happened back there I didn't think there was anyone else in the warehouse."

"We don't know that yet, but somehow some of Belivanis's associates turned up. You'll find out the details later Carla, you need to rest just now. I'll get a statement from you tomorrow." Joe turned into a street I recognised so we were nearly there. "I still think you need proper medical attention." he said.

"I'll be fine, if Bobby thinks I need to go to hospital he'll take me" I said.

We turned into Haywood Street but the Rangeman building was in darkness. I looked at the clock on the dash. It was 3.30am. There was a lot of missing chunks of time tonight.

"Doesn't look like anyone's back yet. There was a whole mess that needed sorting back at the department." Joe parked just across the street. I realised I had left my bag in the back of the limo, so I didn't have a key fob, or a phone to try contact anyone.

"They have a housekeeper and a caretaker don't they? I could try and rouse one of them".

"No" I shouted. I didn't want Ella or Louis seeing me in this state. Ella would just worry, or worse, she would give Ranger a telling off. That would be something though, but maybe for another day. Joe just gave me a look.

"Ella's my godmother" I explained. "She doesn't need to see me like this". Joe just shook his head.

We sat for a few moments in silence. Although my voice had returned my limbs still weren't wanting to co-operate, I could only make slight movements but it was improving all the time. Whatever drug I had been given me was wearing off fast.

"How you doing?" Joe asked.

"I'm so tired, but I need to have a shower, get some clothes on, and some painkillers" I said. "Apart from that I'm just peachy" I added trying a weak smile.

Joe laughed softly and shook his head. "You're as bad as Steph. How long are you over here for?" he asked.

"I'm not sure, I haven't made any definite plans" I said.

"Well when you're fit enough, you should come to Pino's with me and Steph. Their meatball subs and pizza's are the best".

"I know, Steph has already introduced me to the subs, and the guys got me a pizza. But that would be great, thanks. I haven't been anywhere else but the mall." I yawned and almost screamed at the pain in my chest.

"Look honey, you need a hospital, we don't know how long these guys will be away for" Joe said

"I'll be fine Joe, I think it's just cracked ribs or something."

"It's the something I'm worried about" he muttered.

Just then the street was lit up with headlights as an SUV turned into the street and onto the Rangeman driveway.

"Stay here" Joe ordered as he jumped out the car and ran over to the vehicle. Where the hell did I think I would go? I had a broken shoe and legs that didn't work!

I watched as Bobby got out the car. I think it was Hal who was driving and he took the SUV into the garage. Bobby took up a defensive stance as Joe started waving his hands around. Bobby suddenly took off towards me at a sprint. Shit I was slumped against the door, and would fall out if he opened it suddenly. I braced myself for more pain but I felt myself falling into strong arms. I hadn't realised I had shut my eyes until I heard Bobby asking if I was sleeping. I opened them and looked up into Bobby's anxious face. I gave him a pathetic smile and was rewarded by a huge smile back.

"We've fucked up big style tonight babe. Believe me heads will roll". He carefully scooped me up and carried me over towards Rangeman. "Morelli says you don't want to go to hospital, you sure you okay with me taking a look at you?".

I nodded. I was exhausted again and it was becoming an effort to stay awake. I could hear Joe coming up behind us muttering to himself.

"I can take it from here Morelli" Bobby said. "Thanks for getting her out safe, we owe you one".

Joe just laughed under his breath. "I'll be back tomorrow for that statement Carla, give Steph a call when you're ready."

"What do you need a fucking statement for Morelli, hasn't she been through enough?" It was Lester, who was climbing out the back of the SUV stiffly, holding his chest. He came over to us and Bobby passed me over to him. I felt like a sack of potatoes, being handed back and forth.

"You're hurt!" I said to Lester "Put me down".

"I'm fine Sweetness" he said holding me close.

"Take her to the medic room, I'll deal with this" Bobby said glaring at Joe.

"Don't go closing fucking ranks with this" Joe shouted. "Yeah you got your result, that bastard is behind bars tonight, but the bottom line is Carla was assaulted tonight. Badly. Are you honestly saying you're gonna let him get away with it" he said glaring back at Bobby.

Bobby looked over at Lester, who was standing with me waiting for the elevator. Lester looked down at me. "It's your call" he said quietly.

Part of me just wanted to forget the whole thing. Hopefully they had enough on him to put him away for a long time. But Joe was right, why should I let Belivanis get away with what he did to me, just because I was doing a job.

"Would I have to go to court?" I asked Joe.

"It might not come to that, it depends on you're statement and whether they want to call you to give evidence. Hopefully there will be enough evidence stacked against him and he'll plead guilty.

"And if there isn't? I asked.

"Then you'll go through hell" Lester said to me. He turned to Morelli "They'll see the way she's dressed, that she was trying to lure him away on her own. His defence will just say she was asking for it" he spat.

"Easy Les" Bobby said looking at me. "Just get Carla upstairs. She can decide tomorrow when she's had some rest".

Lester, myself and Bobby entered the elevator. I looked at Joe, a look of resignation on his face. "I'll call you tomorrow" I said. He looked doubtful, but gave me a smile anyway.

"Look after my jacket" was all he said.

**Please review. Carla will join Steph in a happy dance!**


	16. Chapter 16

**This one goes on a bit. Not sure if I like it, but there is lots of Lester so maybe its okay. I was trying to deal with the aftermath of Carla's ordeal. Let me know what you think.**

**Usual disclaimer.**

Chapter 18

Lester and Bobby took me to the medic room which was on the first floor. It was a small room with a proper hospital bed in the middle. Lester carefully lay me down on the bed.

"Carla, I'm going to give Ella a call, get her to bring you some clothes to change in to." Bobby said.

"No, I don't want her to see me like this." I whispered. My throat felt on fire and my voice was failing me again.

"You need to get out of these clothes honey" Bobby said gently. "And if you don't want to go to hospital, I'm gonna have to have examine you, and I would rather do it with Ella present" Bobby admitted.

"Please Bobby" I said trying to fight back tears. "Look at me! I really don't want Ella to see what that bastard has done to me." I swallowed hard to stop the urge to cry. Belivanis was not going to make me cry. "I trust you Bobby, I know I've only known you for . . a few hours, but I trust you. I don't need anyone else here."

Bobby looked at me for a moment before he answered. "Okay Carla, but would you be happy for Lester to stay? Or I could call Steph or Sasha. I don't know exactly what you've been through tonight, but I don't want you to feel uncomfortable being . . . .touched." Bobby looked really awkward. As if he really didn't know what to say or do. He probably didn't come across many sexual assaults in the army.

I lay my head back on the pillow and looked at the ceiling. "Bobby I have been here a few days now, and not once have I felt really uncomfortable or uneasy around any of the men here, even with Lester here and his constant flirting." I looked over at Lester who gave me one of his winks and a huge grin. I looked back over at Bobby who still looked unsure but was at least smiling. "Please just make sure I'm not going to die in my sleep. Lester can stay if you don't want to be on your own with me".

"Les can you go up and get Carla something more comfortable to change in to" Bobby asked.

Lester let go of my hand which I didn't even realise he had been holding. Bobby went over to a small fridge and brought out a bottle of water. He pressed a button on the bed and I was moved to an upright position. He handed me the bottled and helped me drink. My hands were moving but I still didn't have any control over them yet.

"What did he give me Bobby?" I asked once I had taken a long drink.

"I don't know for sure but some kind of date rape drug anyway. Whatever it was you didn't get enough to knock you out, but enough to paralyse you. I'll take some bloods and see what comes up".

"If you hadn't turned up when you did I would have preferred to have been knocked out". I thought of the poor girls he had lured back there and shuddered.

There was a light knock on the door. Bobby answered and turned to look at me. "It's Ranger, can he come in?" I nodded.

Ranger walked in the room looking tired. He came over to me and gently took my hand, before lifting it to his mouth and giving it a small kiss. "I'm so sorry Carla, I made a bad call tonight. I should never had stalled at the gates."

"I'm not going to pretend everything's alright Ranger, I'm fucking furious" I said looking up at him. "But I'm so tired, and sore. Can we leave this till the morning, or later on this morning" I said looking at the clock on the wall. It was after 4am.

"Sure, we have a lot to discuss" Ranger said letting go of my hand and turning to leave. "Thank you Carla" He walked over to the door. "Hal is outside but I'll tell him you need some rest, he can see you tomorrow. I assume as Ella is not here that you don't want to see her just now?"

I shook my head. Ella would possibly hit Ranger across the head if she saw what state I had gotten in. Although that would be quite amusing, it wouldn't be fair on anyone.

"I'll go see her in the morning and explain everything to her. I owe you that much" he said as he walked out the door. You owe me a hell of a lot more than that mister!

Lester came back then with one of my nightshirts and a pair of my big thick socks.

"I thought this was quite appropriate" he said smiling. He opened up the nightshirt to show Bobby what was written on it. It was dark blue with the Scotland flag on the front and the words 'Scotland the Brave' underneath it. I had bought it at the airport in Edinburgh for some unknown reason. It was a good choice though as although it had short sleeves, it was quite long so would cover some of my dignity.

"How do you want to do this Carla?" Bobby asked. "I don't think you are going to manage to change yourself, you struggled holding a bottle of water."

I looked over at Lester. He had seen me in my underwear already, there wasn't much more for him to see. "Would you help me?" I asked him. "No funny business mind" I added with a smile.

Lester didn't smile back. "As if Carla. What do you think I am?".

"It was a joke Les, lighten up" I said indignantly. "I'm fine okay. I just thought since you've been in Victoria's Secrets with me you wouldn't be embarrassed to see me in my underwear . . . again."

"Wait a minute" Bobby said smiling. "You got Les into Victoria's Secrets? Ha wait till Lula and Steph hear that. They've been trying to get one of us in there for ages. And when exactly did you see her in her underwear?" he asked laughing.

"What you didn't tell him about this morning?" I asked Lester. I suppose it was yesterday morning. It felt like a lifetime ago.

"I can be the height of discretion. I'm not really a kiss and tell kind of a guy" he smirked.

"Yeah right" Bobby laughed.

"Actually I forgot all about that" Lester said. "What with you dragging me shopping, Grandma Mazur feeling me up and you knocking yourself out, I'll tell you about it later Bobby man."

I started to laugh but it ended up as a cough and the pain was excruciating. The laughter stopped and the room got serious again.

"I need to take a look at your abdomen Carla. If you have broken ribs or internal bleeding you need to get proper medical care. Where does it hurt?"

Everywhere I thought. "Its my ribs I think, where he kicked me in the stomach" I replied.

"Fucker" Lester said his face like thunder.

"I need to get that jacket off you. You okay with that?" I nodded. I wished he would stop feeling so damn uncomfortable around me.

I tried to get the zip of Joe's jacket down but once again my fingers lets me down. Lester gently took over and between the two men they got the jacket off with hurting me. They both looked down at me and Bobby let out a gasp. I looked down at the corset which was torn open to just under my breasts. I tried to close it as well as I could.

"It's okay honey, that's not what I'm looking at" Bobby said handing me a sheet to cover myself with. I looked down to see what else he could be looking at.

"I'll need to clean that up, and I'm going to take bloods and give you shots too to make sure you haven't . . . . .caught anything".

"What are you talking about Bobby?" I asked.

I looked at Bobby then Lester, then down to my arm where they were both staring. On my right shoulder was a huge bite mark. I remembered the pain in the car as Belivanis had bitten down. I hadn't realised he had broken the skin.

"I'll get you cleaned up, and your legs too. You have some pretty deep scratches there. Is it ok if I feel your abdomen now?"

I nodded my head again. I moved the sheet I was covering myself with. Bobby felt around over the top of my corset. There was no pain lower down but when he moved his hand over my rib cage, just under my breasts, I cried out in pain.

"Sorry Carla" he said but kept feeling around. He obviously knew what he was doing, but probably wasn't used to doing it with the female variety of chests! I think breasts were a definite distraction for him.

"I don't think you've broken ribs, just badly bruised. An x ray would confirm it. If you still have pain after the painkillers you need to tell me, so we can get you to hospital for further checks".

I nodded again at him. No way was I going to any hospital.

"Right Les you help Carla get changed, I need to go get some meds. I'll get you some painkillers and something to help you sleep" Bobby said heading for the door. I didn't think I would need anything to sleep, but a lot of painkillers would be nice.

Bobby left the room and Lester looked down at me. "How we gonna do this then, without you giving me an eyeful?"

"Don't you want an eyeful now I'm all cut and bruised?" I asked

"Carla, we can carry on with the flirting once this is all over, and we know you are gonna be okay. Right now you're hurting and I want to make it all better" he said looking at me seriously.

"Okay" was all I could say. This was a side to Lester I hadn't imagined. But I suppose to him this was just a job that needed doing.

"Right we're gonna put your nightshirt on, then we can get the corset off under it" he said. He put the shirt over my head then helped me get my arms through the sleeves. It was the weirdest feeling. My brain was telling my arms to move but they were doing there own thing. I tried to undo the fastenings but my fingers just weren't co-operating. I looked up at Lester in frustration.

"You okay with me helping getting it undone?" he asked.

I nodded feeling embarrassed. "Oh wait" I shouted just at he was putting his hands under my shirt. "It ties up the back, it might be easier doing it that way". Lester looked relieved. I wasn't sure if he just didn't want to touch me, or if it was to save my embarrassment. He helped me sit up, then lifted the shirt to untie the ribbons at the back. After a minute or two of fumbling on his part he managed to loosen it sufficiently to get the corset off. This wasn't the way I had fantasised about the corset being removed by Lester.

"Me neither Gorgeous" Lester smiled.

"Please tell me I didn't say that out loud" I said, my face burning. Lester just laughed softly.

Next was the skirt. We decided the best course of action was just to cut it off, as it was beyond ruined now. Lester took a knife from his pocket and carefully cut the rest of the waistband away. Then he put my arm around his neck and gently lifted me so he could pull the skirt from under me, and pull my nightshirt down to cover my thighs. We both winced when we saw how deep the scratches where on my legs. Lester walked down to the bottom of the bed and gently removed my ruined shoes.

"Damn I really liked these shoes too" he said, almost to himself. He then looked up my legs to the top of the thigh highs. More embarrassment was to come. He walked back round to stand beside me and put his hands up my nightshirt to unclip the suspenders from the thigh highs. Then he very carefully rolled them down my legs. They were sticking to my legs where the blood had dried, and some of the scratches started to bleed slightly.

"You've done that before" I joked. Lester didn't see the funny side. He got a sheet and covered my with it, before moving to the bottom of the bed again to put the socks on.

He grabbed a chair from the corner of the room and brought it back up to sit beside me.

"What happened to you?" I asked him now that I was sorted.

"Someone took a shot at me, I had put the vest on in the car on the way over, so I'm just bruised. We had to go to the hospital anyway so Bobby got me checked out."

"Why did you have to go to the hospital?" I asked concerned. "Was someone else hurt?"

"Belivanis" Lester spat.

"Oh" was all I could say.

"The bastard is okay, in a lot of fucking pain, but okay." Lester took my hand in his again. It felt good there. "He's locked up now though".

Bobby came back in the room with a bag of goodies for me. Well apart from the needles. I hate needles.

"I'm going to give you a shot to try and prevent any infection, and I'm going to take some bloods just to check he hasn't given you anything nasty, and to try and find out what drugs he gave you". Bobby said getting his needles ready.

"Do you have an underground lab or something here?" I asked.

"No, just a very good friend down the hospital. I'll get these sent over right away".

I turned to look at Lester when he was doing all the needle stuff. I had a bit of a fear of needles. Lester sensed this and squeezed my hand gently. I closed my eyes and started to feel myself drifting off. I was nudged awake by Lester and few minutes later.

Bobby was talking to me again. He handed me some painkillers and helped me swallow them with a glass of water. I declined the sleeping tablets. I didn't think I would need them.

"Is it okay if I check your ribs again, now you have that corset off?" Bobby asked.

"As long as your hands are warm" I said.

Bobby carefully felt around under my nightshirt. Again it hurt when he felt my ribs. He did it a bit more thoroughly this time.

"Definitely not broken" he confirmed to himself. I'm going to clean your cuts up now, just lie back, you can sleep if you want to. Although this might sting a bit" he warned.

I lay back and closed my eyes. I felt as Bobby started to clean the bite on my arm, then I felt him on my legs. The painkillers must have been pretty strong as I felt a bit out of it. I could heard Bobby and Lester talking but couldn't quite make out what they were saying. Lester still held my hand as I felt myself drifting off.

I awoke in my bed, in the apartment. The sun was streaming through the window. I wasn't sure how long I had been out of it. I tried to move my arms and legs and was delighted to feel they were working again. I still felt as if I had been hit by a bus though. My head was pounding and my limbs were aching. Breathing felt easier but it still hurt when I yawned. I was facing the bedroom door and I could see a pillow and blanket laid out on the couch. Someone must have stayed with me last night.

"Morning Gorgeous".

I jumped and turned to find Lester lying in my bed, albeit on top of the covers.

"What are you doing here" I asked him, pretending to be annoyed. But I wasn't. Heat was radiating from his body and I would have loved to snuggle into him. He was still wearing his t shirt but looking lower I could see he just had a pair of boxers on. Oh boy!

"You were having a nightmare. I came through to try and calm you down and you pulled me into bed with you" he smiled.

"I did not!" I said indignantly

"Did to" he laughed. "Seriously, you were shouting out in your sleep and thrashing around. I was worried you were going to hurt yourself".

How embarrassing! I really didn't want Lester to have seen that. But it was nice that he wanted to help.

"Who's Fraser?" Lester asked gently.

"What?" I croaked.

"You were calling that name out in your sleep."

I thought about lying, but I thought Lester would probably see through it. "My ex." I admitted. I hadn't had a nightmare about him in a long time.

"You wanna talk about it?" Lester asked.

"Nope" I said sitting up. I lay back down quickly when I realised how close I was to his boxers and his rather large package. Lester must have realised and chuckled quietly. He moved to lie on his side, his head propped on his elbow.

"You back to your normal self then?" I asked him.

"Sweetness, if I was back to myself I wouldn't be lying here in your bed talking to you"

Oh sweet Jesus I needed to get out of bed and have a cold shower, before I shut him up myself. "I need a shower" I mumbled.

I pushed myself out of bed quickly and stood at the side of the bed. I don't know if I had just stood up too quickly, or if it was still a hangover from the drugs, but the room started to sway and my legs buckled. I started to fall backwards and was caught by Lester's strong arms. He had jumped up and was on his knees on the bed. He gently pulled me down to sit between his legs, keeping his arms around me. He was doing nothing to quell my raging hormones. What can I say, I was nearly raped last night, but was still thinking dirty thoughts about Lester Santos. Maybe it was psychiatric help I was needing.

"I'll go run you a bath, I don't think you're up to a shower yet, unless you want some help in there."

"A bath would be nice thanks" I answered before I took him up on his offer.

Lester carefully moved around me and through to the bathroom, while I tried not to ogle his backside. He did have a lovely backside though. I got up, slowly this time, and found my feet. I went over to the closet to find some clothes to change into and wandered through to the bathroom where Lester was running a very bubbly bath. He caught my blush as my eyes wandered south again.

"I'll go get some more clothes on" he winked at me.

I rolled my eyes at him and moved over to the sink to brush my teeth. I glanced up at myself in the mirror and my breath caught in my throat. This was the first time I had seen my face, and it wasn't pretty. My hair was matted to my head but that was the least of my worries. My right eye was black and blue, with lovely shades of purple in between. My bottom lip was swollen where it was cut, just to the right hand side of my mouth. My neck was bruised too where Belivanis had left his mark, and I could see the edges of the bite mark peeking out the sleeves of my nightshirt. I felt the tears welling up, and knew I wouldn't be able to stop them this time. I felt like screaming. I started shaking and felt I wanted to hit somebody. Instead I picked up a my bottle of shampoo sitting on the shelf beside the bath, and threw it across the room.

Lester came running through from the bedroom. I turned away from him so he couldn't see me cry. He went over to turn the water off then came over beside me. He tried to turn me towards him but I resisted. So he wrapped his arms around me anyway.

"What's wrong Carla?" he asked.

"My . . .my . . . My" I couldn't speak I was sobbing so hard. I was losing it, I had never, ever cried like this before.

Lester managed to turn me around and I buried my face in his chest. I didn't want him to look at me again. We stood there for ages until my sobs subsided. Lester must think I'm a right idiot now I thought. But he just held me.

"The cuts and bruises will be gone in a few days gorgeous. I know you'll take longer to heal inside, but Carla" he said lifting my face to look at him. "Don't let that bastard do this to you" he finished.

How could I tell him that wasn't the reason I was so upset. I have had black eyes and cut lips before. I just didn't think I would ever have to stand looking in the mirror at my bruised reflection again. I thought that was all behind me. I was fed up of always being the fucking victim.

I sniffed and pulled away from him. "I'll have my bath now, thanks Lester but I'm okay. Sorry you had to deal with that". He pulled me back towards him and kissed my forehead.

"Don't lock the door, I'll be right outside if you need me". He was back to being serious again. No innuendo now, I'd probably scared him off!

Lester left the room closing the door behind him. I shed my clothing and climbed into the hot bath. There was so many bubbles I nearly disappeared. I wet my hair and reached for my bottle of shampoo. It was still lying across the room on the floor.

I felt the tears building again. I wasn't going to cry over a fucking bottle of shampoo. I had to wash my hair though, it was a mess.

Lester tapped lightly on the door and asked if I was okay. When I didn't answer he popped his head round the door. He couldn't see anything for the bubbles.

"You okay?" he asked again.

"My shampoo is over there" I said pointing to the floor. I was sitting with my knees drawn up to my chin, my arms wrapped round my legs. Lester went over to pick the bottle up before coming over to kneel beside me.

"Do you want me to do it?" he asked gently.

I nodded my head without looking at him. I don't know why but I trusted this man completely. He looked like a mean bad ass but he was so tender and caring. I felt better just having him near. I knew I was going to be pretty fucked up with the feelings I was developing for him, but I would have to deal with them later.

Lester opened the bottle and poured some shampoo onto his hand. He then started to gently massage my head. It felt so good, but it was relaxing me rather than turning me on. Once he had finished lathering up he reached up for the shower head and rinsed the bubbles out. He switched the water off and returned the shower to its place.

"Will you be okay getting out" he asked.

"Yeah I'll take it from here thanks" I said. I felt so much better now.

"I'll go wait outside again" he said moving to the door.

"Thank you Les, for everything" I called after him.

"Anytime Gorgeous" he replied, closing the door behind him.


End file.
